Broken Promises
by minnie0923
Summary: Clary is a 25 years old single mom who has vowed never to love again. Jace is a manager for his sister who promised the world to Clary. Many years later Jace decides to come back to town after running into Simon in Europe. Follow along as Jace tries to win Clary back, while Clary tries to hide her daughter's paternity from the world. Clace is a definite, however, slow burn.
1. The Beginning

"MOMMA!", wow it always amazes me how loud and awake my little girl can be at six in the morning. I love that little girl, but after a sixteen hour shift at the crime lab, this is not the wakeup call I wanted.

"Yes, baby?" I holler from under my very comfortable blankets. "We need to get up, it is time for school." She says this while bouncing on my bed.

How on earth did I end up with a seven years old child that loves school and the mornings so much? Well, I know that answer, her love of getting up and seeing the world comes from her dad.

Ouch, should not have thought him. Thinking about him still brings pain right to the center of my chest. I mean it has been so many years since he left, you would think by now that it would hurt less. I just want the pain to go away, but on the other hand, feeling something reminds me why loving someone other than my daughter is not a good thing for me.

Looking at my daughter I smile and say, "Ana, I really wish you were normal." Sadly my smile does not reach my eyes, I know it doesn't, I am just too tired. Working 16 hours at a time and then being a single mom takes a toll on my 25 years old body.

However, she only laughs and bounces some more on my bed while saying, "Momma, I am normal."

"Uh, no you are not, you are abnormal because you never, not even once, let me sleep past six a.m.". I love that no matter what I say, she never takes it personally. She takes it as mommy being tired and saying funny things.

I then proceed to stick my tongue out at her. Yes, I am that childish, but what can I say she loves it when I act silly as well. She laughs, sticks her tongue out at me and runs from the room yelling, "I want coconut pancakes!"

Ugh, I don't want to make pancakes this early in the morning, can't I just go back to sleep? That is when I hear my little one pulling out all of the ingredients and the only thing I can do is smile and get moving. If she is left up to her own devices she will totally make them herself or at least try.

Try as she might, she is only seven and in that situation, it would leave me with hours of cleaning. Unfortunately, I learned that fact the hard way a year ago when she did try to make them on her own. However, it was funny to see her with coconut flakes and flour sticking to her hair and face by the time she was done 'mixing' the ingredients together.

After the pancakes were made and eaten, I tell Ana to brush her teeth and get ready for school. As I am about to sit on my couch and relax for a few minutes before I get dressed the phone rings. Who is calling me at 7 am? Still, I run over to the phone and pick it up. "Hello?"

"Clary how you doing?" Simon of course, no else on this planet would call me this early in the morning. I am usually too tired and irritated to talk to before I get my coffee from Java Jones. I would make it myself, but I really suck at making good coffee.

"Simon, what do you want? Do you have any idea what time it is here?" I say with a slight annoyance in my voice. Simon has been in Europe working for the last few months. "Sorry Clary, but to be fair Ana never lets you sleep late anyway." I hear him laugh and then say "I mean that child must have a damn internal clock that wakes up at 6 am no matter what."

"Ugh, you don't have to remind me." I say before giving a tired laugh myself. "So, what's up? You never call when you're working. Plus I still have no coffee in me so be careful about what you say." This is when I notice that Simon is talking, but not to me. "Hey, Simon, earth to Simon, you there?" He stops talking to the other person before answering me.

"Yeah, sorry about that someone just walked into my hotel room and I was letting them know that I was talking to my sister." Wow, it is weird when he calls me that, even though he has been doing it since Ana was born. It was the only way the nurse would let him come in and see me after she was born because they were only letting family in.

"Um, okay, so what do you need?" I ask yet again. I only have an hour or so before Ana needs to leave for school and I need coffee. Not to mention that I have to get a bunch of stuff done before I can rest again. Man, I really miss sleeping.

"Oh, yeah the reason I called was that I ran into some people we know from high school." Well, that is weird since he is still in Europe. "Who did you run into?"

"Isabelle, Alec and Jace." he says. Right then my heart stops, the pain is back tenfold and I think I may even pass out. I have not heard those names in a long time. "Um, okay, um I have to go." I hang up the phone as fast as I can and make a run for my room. I cannot let Ana see me like this; she will freak and want to know what is going on.

I hear the phone ring again and again, but I do not move from where I am standing. No way am I answering it. It keeps ringing. I can't hear about them right now, especially him. I look over at the clock and notice that I have 20 minutes before Ana needs to be at school. Wow I have been standing here for that long. I wonder why Ana is not bugging me about the phone that keeps rings.

I shake my head, okay, time to move. I walk out of my room and back over to the phone. I then proceed to pull the plug for the phone out of the wall. Finally the phone is silent. Time for me to get back to being a mom.

"Ana, you got 20 minutes and then we are out of here!" I yell to her. "Got it mom!" she hollers back.


	2. Panic

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me.

Fear, plain and simple fear is all I can feel right now walking back from Ana's school. Simon calling and telling me that he has seen and spoken to the three people I never thought I would hear from again is making me scared. I know the fear is irrational, he only said he ran into them. It is not like he is bringing them back here to New York.

They cannot come back here. I promised to make sure that they would leave. I did my part. I did it so well that all three of them think I am the most horrible person on the planet. I promised to make them leave, however, I never promised to keep them away. No, no, no, I cannot think like that. If they ever come back I will lose everything.

"Calm down Clary" I whisper to myself. Great now I am talking to myself, this must be a sure sign that I am officially going crazy. I just have to distract myself. Time to get stuff done, such as go shopping for food, buy Ana those new shoes she been begging for and oh yeah, sleep. Man I miss sleep. However, since today is my first day off in almost a week, I really need to catch a few extra hours of sleep before Ana gets out of school.

Once I finally get home and the groceries are put away I decide to lie down. I set an alarm so don't sleep past Ana getting out of school. I am pretty sure I will toss and turn for the next few hours, but hey it is worth a shot if I can get a little sleep.

I wake up with a start and look around my room. "Where am I?" I say out loud. Hold on, I know this room; it is the one I grew up in. Oh no, not this dream again. I look around frantic, how am I going to wake myself up? Once this dream starts, it seems to always run its course before letting me out. Sadly this is a memory disguised as a dream or really a nightmare.

Next thing I know I am running for the bathroom so I can heave my guts out. Now throwing up in real life sucks, but in this dream it seems to go on for hours. Once I can sit up straight again, I look towards the door. I know what is coming next, as on cue there is a soft knock on the door and I hear my brother ask "Clare-bear, you okay in there?"

"Fine" is all I can manage to squeak out. I never figured out if it was the weakness in my voice or just me being sick that causes him to come in without being invited. "Clary baby, what's wrong? You look so scared and pale." I try to smile at him, but I know I look pathetic.

"I'm fine Jon, really." I try to reassure him. "Nope, don't believe you. Why don't you try again with a little more effort" he responds. That is when I lose it. I turn into this crying mess, which if you knew me, it would scare you. "Clare-bear, please tell me what is wrong, because now you are scaring me" Jon says as he kneels down and pulls me into his arms. I hiccup once and then try to control my breathing before I speak.

"Jon, I um… I am" that is all I can get out before the crying starts again. I guess because I was throwing up and crying that he figured out my problem. This is when he starts to shake. I pull my head back to see my brother red faced and full of fury. "I am going to kill Jace!" he says between gritted teeth. "No Jon!" I manage to get out.

"What do you mean NO?! He got you into this position. Well, I guess you both had a hand in it, but you are my baby sister and he will suffer for this." Jon is still shaking but at least he unclenched his jaw. This is when I swallow and say, "No Jon, Jace had nothing to do with this." I guess that was the last thing he expected to hear. "What do you mean?"

This is my chance to start telling the story I created in my head for everyone. "Jace is not the father." I put my head down in shame. Jon stares and me asks me to repeat that. After I do he just looks at me and says "Right Clary, you may be able to lie to everyone else on the planet, but not to me." Damn I know he is right, but I just look down. There is no way I can tell him the real truth, he would never allow me to go through with it.

"Clary, the truth or I go to Jace and kill him. Your choice." After a minute of deciding, I tell start to tell him the truth.

Beep, beep, beep is all I hear when I look at Jon. What is that sound? The next thing I know I am awake in my normal bed. Oh thank God is all I can think. I really did not want to relieve the next part of that dream. I look over at the clock. It is time to get up to get Ana from school. Yep, time to go be momma.


	3. Making Plans

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me.

Yes! Even with my clouded thoughts, I managed to make it to Ana's school with 10 minutes to spare. I am always early when I go to pick her up from school. My favorite thing in this world is to see her the moment she comes through the front door of her school, mainly because she always has a big smile on her face. Today, I really needed to see that smile to brighten my day and clear my thoughts.

As I stand outside the gate of her school, my mind wanders back to Simon's phone call. I remembered to plug the phone back in when I came home earlier, which stayed silent thankfully. Why would Simon tell me he saw them? He knows that they cannot stand me and he thinks that I don't care about them. He was there at the last argument we all had before they left. I still harbor ill feelings about that day, but only towards myself for letting it get that far.

I tried for weeks to figure out a plan so that I would not have to raise Ana on my own. Sadly, neither Jon nor I could come up with anything that would allow them to stay. Instead I opted for damage control and created a fictional daddy for her. This would allow everyone to move on as I had promised.

"Enough" I mumble to myself, that was then and this is now. I need to focus on raising my daughter to the best of my abilities. Right as I was shaking off the bad memories, I see a flash of red. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"Ana!" I holler and wave at her. "Momma!" she yells back as she starts running towards me with her hair flowing behind her and a bright smile on her face. It is sunny out today, which always makes her hair shine to me. You see, she has red hair just like me and green eyes. However, when the sun hits her hair, you see her vibrant gold highlights. She is literally a mini version of me, except for the gold in her hair.

Luckily, when I described her 'father' to people before she was born I gave him golden hair, brown eyes and tan skin. I know it is not original, but I had to come up with an excuse for the future incase Ana had any resemblance to her real father. I got lucky and she looks so much like me that unless you know I made up a fake daddy, you would not guess that I was lying.

I even created traits for her fake daddy, so that if she did something that looked or sounded familiar it would be easy to explain. Some are really her fathers and some belong to different male family members between both our families. As far as anyone is concerned, I was dating Ana's 'father' for a few months, but he left when I told him I was pregnant. You can say that did not go over very well, since at the time Jace was supposed to be my boyfriend.

Shaking my head for the thousandth time today I refocus on my daughter as she walks up to me. "Momma, can we go to grandma's house for dinner?' Okay that is a weird question since she sees her everyday that I work. "Well, I thought it would just be you and me for dinner, since this is my first day off in a while." I respond back. Ana looks down and frowns. "Um okay" she says before starting towards home.

"Hold on little-bit, if you really want to see grandma then we can call her." This seemed to perk Ana up and anything that makes her happy is good with me. I tell her we will call grandma when we get home, but first she needed to tell me all about her day. Usually, this is when she never shuts up, but for some reason she is abnormally quiet and only says a few sentences. Before I can question this further we are home and she is running to get the phone. "Call her momma." she says bouncing up and down. Wow what has gotten into her.

I pick up the phone and dial my mother's number, while I wait for her to pick up; Ana is still bouncing right next to me. "If grandma says yes, you can only go if your homework is done." I say. "Okay, I'm on it" she says before grabbing her backpack and running off. My mother picks up with a rushed "Hello".

"Hey mom." I say when I notice that she sounds out of breath. "I didn't catch you at a bad time did I?" I ask. "Oh, Clary darling, no it's not a bad time; I was just talking to someone in the kitchen and had to run to the living room to get the phone."

"Good. I was calling because apparently your granddaughter cannot go another day without seeing you. Ana wants to know if we can come over for dinner." I hear my mother laugh, but it is a nervous laugh. "Oh, um well I guess." she says.

Now I am starting to get a strange feeling. My mother never hesitates to see her granddaughter, even though she babysits her five times a week while I work. She always says that watching Ana is her way of retiring. This basically means that she gets to stay home and watch her instead of going back to work at the crime lab. "Mom if this is a bad time or you and Luke have plans I can always tell Ana that." I say quickly.

"Oh honey, no that is not it. I just have someone else staying for dinner. Ana knows this; I wonder why she wants to come over so badly. She is always excited about your days off, because she gets you all to herself." my mother says. "I know, but for some reason she really wants to come over."

"Well, I am fine with it, but let me ask Celine what she thinks." That's when my heart stops. Of course Celine is back in town. I remember my mother telling me she was coming back from Asia early. Ana is obsessed with Celine and her stories from working all over the world. Things are making sense now. Ana seems to gravitate towards Celine and Stephen when they are around. We don't see as much of them anymore, mainly due to me breaking Jace's heart, which also broke mine at the same time but no one knows that except Jon.

I try to even out my breathing as I hear my mother ask Celine if it is okay for Ana and me to join them for dinner. I really do not want to see her. Not because she is a bad or evil person, it just hurts way too much to be around her. Jace has a lot of the same mannerisms as Celine, which makes it hard to function when she is near me. The memories of the good and bad times come too easily when I am near anyone that reminds me too much of Jace. The last time I saw Celine was two years ago at a dinner just like this. Since then, I have tried to maintain a safe distance.

"Clary?" my mother says. "Sorry, I must have spaced out, what did you say?" trying to focus back on my mom. "Celine is fine with it, but…" she lowers her voice "are you sure about this? You prefer to stay away from her and Stephen. I know you are uncomfortable around them. I do not want to ruin your first day off in a week."

"No, its fine mom and whatever little-bit wants she gets." My mother laughs at both Ana's nickname and my response. She knows that I will give my daughter anything, even if it makes me uncomfortable. "See you around six then for dinner." she says before telling me goodbye and hanging up.

"Ana come out here please." Ana comes from around the corner with a shy smile on her face. "Celine just happens to be having dinner at grandma's house the same day you want to go over there? What have I said about trying to trick momma into doing things you want?" I leave the questions hanging in the air as I look at her. "Sorry momma, I just knew you would not want to go over there if you already knew Celine was going to be there. I just don't get why you don't like her."

"Ana, I like Celine, it is just grownup stuff long past. So this is why you were not so talkative right? You did not want to slip up and tell me Celine was going to be there?" I ask staring at her. "Sorry momma." she says. "Well little-bit, you better get your homework done fast since we are apparently going to grandmas."

"Yes!" Ana yells, fist pumping the air. I can only smile and let her go get her work done. Man I really want to be upset, but seeing her that happy just makes my day worth it. Even if I do I have to spend the evening with Jace's mother.


	4. Dinner

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

Well here I stand getting ready to do something that I have not done in two years. I have to face the mother of the man I hurt. It also did not help that she was also the godmother of Alec and Izzy as well. Man, this is really going to suck.

I can feel Ana getting annoyed as she tries to pull me towards the front door. "Momma, we need to go inside. Grandma said dinner was at 6. You know I don't like being late." I can only stand there and stare. I know she is right, but when have I ever been on time for anything. I only started getting better at that after I had Ana. "I know little-bit, let's go." I say before bracing myself mentally for what comes next.

Ana lets go of my hand and runs up to and through the front door of my mother's house. I slowly follow her, while silently praying for the earth to swallow me whole. As I step over the threshold I can hear Ana greeting both my mother and Celine. "Hi Cece, Grandma!" Really she calls her Cece, how long has it been since Ana has seen Jace's mom. I mean it has been two years for me, but I am starting to think it has not been that long for Ana.

"Ana, so happy to see you again." I hear Celine say. As I walk into the living room I see Ana giving Celine a hug and my mom smiling at them. Sometimes life just throws you into a situation and you just have to deal. I plaster the world's fakest smile on my face and greet both ladies. "Long time no see Celine. I hope you have been well." I state. It is at that moment Celine notices me and her smile falters some. I know she is not too thrilled to see me. I am still the girl that made a good portion of her family leave.

"Clarissa, how nice to see you again." I grimace when she calls me Clarissa and Ana laughs because she knows how I hate my full name. That gets my mom laughing and Celine starts as well. "Sorry, I forgot how much you hate your full name." she says with a sly smile. Damn it, she did that on purpose just to get a reaction. Keep calm, smile and get through dinner that is going to be my mantra for tonight.

My mom excuses herself to go finish dinner and Ana starts asking Celine about her latest trip to Asia. This is when I tune them out. I decide to think about work and how busy I will be until my boss comes back from vacation. One more week of 16 hour days and then I will be back to my normal 12 hour shifts. For some people these are long hours, but as a crime scene technician, you have to expect to work a lot of hours.

I enjoy my job, but it can be gruesome at times. I guess working for the police department is in my blood. My mother worked in the crime lab before Ana was born as a DNA specialist, my father was a cop before he was killed in the line of duty and my brother works with computers for the NYPD. I don't really have a specialty, I prefer to collect evidence and learn about the many different aspects of my line of work. Limiting myself to one field is too confining. This is the reason why I am in charge while my boss is away. I am good at maintaining order, sketching the scene and cataloging the evidence, all while keeping everyone else motivated and working. My boss says it is the mom in me that makes me so good at my job. In reality, it is my way of escaping my own issues and helping solve other people's problems.

"Dinner!" my mother yells from the dining room. Ana and Celine stop their conversation long enough to head to the dining room. I get up and decide to walk in there; I need to get this over with as soon as possible. I sit down and wait for my mother to finish serving everyone and then I start eating. As I do so, it seems like Ana is more interested in talking to Celine than eating. "Eat little-bit before your food gets cold." Ana stops talking for a moment and picks up her fork. I guess she can tell by the slight annoyance in my voice that she should start eating.

Thinking back, I wish I had let her keep talking. The next thing I hear is my mother asking Celine why she came back early. What I heard next was something I could have done without knowing at all. "Oh, Jace and the others will be coming to New York for a show in two days." Again for the tenth time today my heart stops. I hold my breath as it sinks in that all three of them are coming home.

No, no, no is all I can think. I promised that they were gone for good. They cannot come back. I am screaming this in my head over and over again. "Clary baby are you okay? You're turning green." my mother says. I look at her and I guess she sees the panic in my eyes. "Why don't you head to the bathroom, I think you are going to be sick." she gets out before I stand and run.

I run to bathroom as fast as my legs will carry me and then slam the door shut. I cannot do this. They cannot come back. What will happen if they stay? I press my head against the door and try to regain control over my breathing. A small voice sounds off in my head, 'You only promised to get rid of them and that was before Ana was born. It may be okay now.' No, it won't be okay. I know the terms of the agreement and it was for them to leave and for me to be in pain.

That bitch is all I can think now. What will she do if she finds out that those three are back? Maybe she will let it slide. I mean it has been over seven years and I have been suffering since they left. I mean I have not seen or heard from her in a few years, so maybe she decided enough was enough. Yeah right. That bitch made it a point to hurt me and my family as much as possible. I have to get to Jon and warn him that Jace, Izzy and Alec were coming back.

I grab my phone and send a text message to my mother that I am not feeling well and if she could please keep Ana for the night. I asked her to make up an excuse to tell Celine and I told her I was sorry, but I needed space. After that was sent I opened up the door and went out the back. I needed Jon, he knew the whole truth and he could help figure out how to keep everyone safe.

An Hour Later

"Jon are you here?" I say as I knock on his door. I can hear him shuffling around behind the door trying to undo the locks. I feel really bad about this, not just telling him bad news, but I know he has had a hard week too. He just ended a double shift thanks to a coworker calling out sick. As the door swings open I can tell that I woke him up. "Clary, what is going on?" he says still have asleep.

"My world is about to implode and I have no flippin' clue what to do!" I say quickly. "Clary what the hell are you talking about? How is your world ending this time? I mean it can't be any worse than the first time things went to shit right?" he smiles when he says this. I look at him with utter disbelief in my eyes. "Jon! I am about to lose my shit, so will you please let me!" I practically scream at him. This is when he finally notices that I'm crying and shaking.

"Oh crap!" is all he says before he pulls me into his apartment.


	5. Simon's Back

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

It has been two days since I sat on my brother's couch and told him what Celine had said. I am currently walking towards his apartment building to pick up Ana. Mom and my step father Luke had a dinner planned with Celine and Stephen tonight, which meant I wanted Ana and myself as far away from that house as humanly possible. Jon used the excuse that he had not seen Ana in about a week so he could pick her up from school for me. I knew Ana would be fine with it since she loves spending time with Jon.

For two days I have been thinking nonstop about who will be showing up in town. Literally at any minute, Jace, Izzy and Alec will be arriving in New York after more than seven years. Wow over seven years, has it really been that long. I struggle through my thoughts as I come to my brother's door. I decided to forgo knocking and walk right on in.

My only saving grace is that I had the late shift tonight so Ana is asleep when I get there. This will give me the time I need to talk to Jon again. Once I am done talking to him I will be able to get home in relative silence, since Ana sleeps so heavily. The only downside is that she is getting bigger, so carrying her to and from the car will be a slight challenge.

"Hey Jon, how was my baby tonight?" I ask trying to avoid the pain in my heart and head for a few seconds. "She was great. Her homework is done and we watched a few movies before she fell asleep. And yes, I did remember to feed her something other than candy for dinner." He says smiling. That was one mistake he was not going to make again. It was also one of the reasons my mom watches her most nights. Jon is a great uncle, but he is still a little gullible when it comes to Ana. She can tell him that momma lets her do something and he believes her. She is very good at acting innocent when she wants something.

"Okay, ugh…. I am just so tired. I don't think I have gotten more than a few hours sleep since Celine told me they were coming back here. In my head I always knew that it was going to happen eventually, but as the years starting adding up, I really thought they were never coming back." I try and fail to smile at him. He knows how much I want to protect all of my family, even the ones that don't know that I am protecting them.

"Clary, I think it will be fine. I mean, you can just ignore them while they are here and when they leave you can get your life back to normal." Jon says trying to reassure me. I just don't think it will be that easy, since nothing has ever been that simple for me. "Jon, do you really think that she is not going to come back into my life if she finds out their back?"

"So what if she finds out. It is not like Jace is coming back for you. Izzy and Alec hate you just as much as Jace. You just have to wait till they leave." I cringe through everything he says. I mean a part of me knows that they are not coming back for me. However, it is the trouble that can start if they want to stay is what worries me. I sigh deeply before looking at him again and ask "Have you had any luck with you know?" He shakes his head. Ugh that is the only thing standing in our way. If we could…no I can't think like that. I need to move on from it and get through whatever comes next. I decide to grab Ana and go home. It has been a long day and night; I just want to get her in bed and then lie down.

Once I pull up to my home I notice someone standing outside. The person, who I think is a guy, is leaning against my front door. Okay, the mom in me is freaking a little, while the crime scene tech side is going through all of the worst case scenarios of what could possibly happen. It isn't until the person walks over and under the street light that I notice who it is. "Damn it Simon, you about gave me a heart attack. You had me thinking that a serial killer was waiting kill me." I say with a half-hearted laugh as I get out of the car and walk over to the back door.

Simon laughs and rubs his neck. "Sorry Clare-bear never thought how it would look this late at night." I can see he is nervous and for a split second I can't figure out what his problem is, then I remember our phone call. I have been so out of it that I forgot that I hung up on him. He didn't try to call back after that morning, though I doubt I would have talked to him if he had. "So Simon how did you know I was coming home so late? Especially since you don't call or write anymore." I say with a wink and a smile to let him know that we are okay.

"Well Clary that is a good question. Funny thing is that I am now psychic and used my abilities to read your mind from a distance." He says laughing, "But really, I called your mom and she told me that Ana was with Jon and what time you would be home." I smile at his nerdy answer before I open the back door to my car. I start to reach for Ana when Simon pushes me to the side gently and picks her up.

"Simon, I can get her."

"Yeah I know you can, but I haven't seen you both in forever. Even if she is asleep, I still need my little-bit hugs." He holds her tight while we walk towards my front door. Don't get me wrong, on a normal night after a very long shift I would be thrilled for the help, but right now I am wondering why Simon is here so late at night.

Once Simon had laid Ana in her bed, I motioned him over to the couch. "Okay Simon, spill. What is up with you coming over so late at night?"

"Well…" he started and then he stopped. "Simon come on, I am tired and I want to go to bed." This is weird; Simon is usually straight forward with me. "Clary, I really want to know why you reacted the way you did. I know you have been different since you got pregnant with Ana, but you hung up on me. Is it because I mentioned seeing Izzy, Jace and Alec?"

Man where do I start with this one. Simon does not know the real truth. All he knows is that I cheated on Jace, got pregnant and then blamed Jace for the situation. To be fair, I also blamed Izzy for her excessive partying and Alec's lack of trust in us as a couple for the reasons why I cheated on Jace. They were all a pack of lies, but I needed them to think that I was blaming them for all **my** problems. They had to leave, so using smaller issues that I blew out of proportion seemed like a great idea at the time. I needed everyone to believe that I hated them, which gave them the perfect excuse to leave when the opportunity arrived.

"Simon it has nothing to do with them." I say with a frown on my face. "Why would I care that you saw and talked to them. I was just surprised, caffeine deprived and tired. They mean nothing to me anymore." God I hope I sound convincing. Sadly I can lie pretty good to most people, but I am so tired, I have no idea if Simon will believe me.

"Okay." he says, but I don't think he believes me. Great how am I going to get around him on this one? "So Simon" I say to turning the subject back around on him "What are you doing back in New York? I thought you were over in Europe for at least the next three months."

"Well, I was going to be, but after I…um…ran into the old gang, I decided it would be good to come back here. Especially after I found out they were headed home. I didn't want them to surprise you. Your mom did tell me that you knew they were coming back though."

"Is that the only reason you are back? Maybe something or someone else brought you here?" I ask this knowing that Simon has been in love with Izzy for a decade, but he was always too scared to tell her. Now he has a chance to be around her again, while being home. There was no way he was passing this chance up. No way, especially since it will allow him to see his mom, Rebecca and Ana as well.

"No, no one brought me back. I just missed my family and I knew you would need help with Ana since you have these crazy hours now."

"Oh come off it Simon. I have had crazy hours for the last 4 years. You on the other hand have been gallivanting around the big wide world on your quest for gorgeous pictures." With that last statement I smirk at him and giggle. "I just want you to be happy, even if that means spending even less time with me and more time with other adults that don't have kids weighing them down."

It cost him a lot to side with me after everything went down. Even though Simon never met Ana's 'father', he still stuck by me when I told him that Jace was not the love of my life anymore. When it was time to go public with my new relationship, Simon was the only who did not giving me any grief about it. He just supported me and never questioned why none of us ever met this guy in person.

To be honest, Simon was the only one I contacted after my new romance started. I knew he still talked to everyone, so when Jon had helped me create Ana's fake dad, Simon told the group about the phone calls and texts I got. In reality, Jon was the one sending the texts and making the phone calls. Then after the old group left town and the romance ended so abruptly, Simon never questioned it. He only supported me and helped out whenever he could.

"I just want the same thing for you Clary." Simon says before he stands up and leaves so I can get some sleep.


	6. They Are Back

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

"Jace no!" I shoot with my back to the wall. Jace stands in front of me with a can of whipped cream and a devilish smile on his face. "Oh, but little-bit, you so deserve this." he states while taking a few steps closer. "I'm sorry okay; I will never do it again, I promise." I say in between giggles.

"Do what Clary, leave me, hurt me or destroy my life?" he asks as he starts walking backwards. "What? Wait Jace I'm sorry. Where are you going?" All of a sudden Jace is gone and I am alone, what the hell just happened?

With a jolt I wake up in my bed to the sound of my alarm clock. Great, I hate that dream too. It is always the same. The dream begins with the happiest day of my senior year. It all started when I told Jace that I decided not to go to same college as him after all. He was devastated at first until he noticed that I could not stop laughing. Like I would not want to go to college with him! The last year had been so hard with him going to college and me attending high school.

After he realized that I was kidding he grabbed the whipped cream that we had been using to make sundaes with and turned on me. I ended up with the whole can sprayed all over me in real life, but in the dream, Jace asks me if I will hurt him again before he walks away. I have to stop dreaming about him. I need to get up so I can take Ana over to my mom's house. I need to get to work.

Today is going to be a better day I tell myself. I am going to get up, go to work and stop thinking about those three people, one in particular, that I will most likely never see. Well as long as I stay away from any place they would visit while they are here that is.

A few hours later I am in my lab processing samples when a phone call comes in, "Fray" I say into the receiver. "Hey it's Officer Mason, there was a burglary on Fifth Avenue and we need someone down here to process the scene." the caller says. "On it, just text me the address and I will be there soon."

Great a burglary on Fifth Avenue of all places. Most of the stores on that street have high value items and the owners are always up your ass until you figure out who stole their expensive ass shit. Well, at least it will break up the boredom of waiting for my samples to finish processing.

Once I get to the store I keep saying to myself; remember, don't smile when you enter. Yes, you get a kick out of seeing rich people who have lost their stuff, but you work for the cops and this should not make you happy. This is the same mantra I have to say each time I am sent to an upscale location. Now don't get me wrong I have nothing against rich people, I just don't understand why money is everything. I mean, I have a beautiful daughter, my own home and a fulfilling job, shouldn't that be enough?

I am broken out of my thoughts when Officer Mason walks up to me. "Fray, nice of you to join us." he smiles, he knows that I have a thing about rich people. I come from a long line of cops and we are not known for having a lot of money. I may also from time to time complain about the expensive car that blocks my parking space when my neighbor has her boy toy over some nights. I mean really, he has to park in my spot.

Okay, time to get to work. "We have some witnesses to the crime and they are talking to Detective Garroway right now." Mason tells me. "Fine, as long as they do not get in my way or corrupt my evidence. You know how testy I get when my tests are ruined." I say with a smile. Mason just looks at me and grins; he knows I like to make stupid puns that fall flat.

I take out my camera so I can take pictures of the scene. I will have to wait until the area is clear before I can take samples from the store. I also need elimination samples from all the witnesses I list off as I get ready to work. This is when I look around and realize how big the store really is. OMG this is a huge store. Why could it have not been one of those small boutiques that would let me done in a few hours? With my boss on vacation and a recent stomach flu going through the lab, I am one of only three techs available today.

Well, I guess it is time to start working so I can get this done. I put my camera up to face when I hear someone yell from the corner of the store "What do you mean I can't leave yet Luke, come on I have a photo shoot in an hour." Oh, crap I know that voice, that high pitched yet beautiful voice belongs to none other than Isabelle Lightwood.

"I'm sorry Izzy and it is Detective Garroway while you are still in the store." I hear him say. Okay stay calm, look over to the other side of the store and pull out your phone I tell myself. Crap, what am I going to do? I know! I will text one of the other techs and beg them to come and cover this scene. Maybe I can leave before anyone knows I am here.

"Clary?" I hear from behind me. Oh no I know that voice. Yep, not getting out of here without anyone seeing me. I turn around and look straight into a set of perfectly golden colored eyes and that is the last thing I see before a sea of black takes me under.

"Clary? Clary baby wake up for me." I can feel someone touching my face. Ugh, what is going on, where am I? I can feel myself slowly waking up. "Luke?" I say with a confused mind. I open my eyes to see my step father holding me in his arms. I am on the floor, how did I get here. "What the hell is going on? Why am I on the floor?' I keep drawing a blank until someone comes into my line of sight. No is all I can think as I see Jace looking at me.

"Clary you fainted." Luke says to me. Now everything is coming back to me. "I think we need to call in another tech and you need to leave." he says. Yeah that would be great, but I know that even if I did call another tech, they would not be able to cover this scene. It was a pipe dream when I thought of it the first time. "No Detective Garroway" I say with some authority in my voice. I am trying to hide the fact that Jace's presence is affecting me. "I don't have another tech I can send. Manny is still out of town and the other techs are busy." I say this all while standing up and looking for my camera.

"Here" Jace says as he hands me my camera. "You dropped this when you…fell." he says. Well at least he had the decency to say fell instead of fainted. He knew how much I hated being weak. Damn Clary, get a grip and pretend they are just your ordinary witnesses to a crime. "Thanks" I mutter before checking my camera for damage. I don't see anything wrong with it, so that is good at least.

"Okay Detective, if you could get all the witnesses over to a side of the store that the perps were never at. I can then take elimination samples and they can be on their way."

"Clary" he starts. "That's Fray while I am working Detective, now please. I just want to get this over with, so I can finish up here." I guess Luke can tell by my tone of voice that the subject is closed for discussion. As Luke gathers everyone over to one side of the store I get my tablet and swabs out. Okay, breath in and out I repeat to myself. Get this done and send them on their way. They cannot stay around me.

This is when I look up suddenly and glance around the store. Is there anyone here that could be working for her? I check out everyone to see if they are glancing at me and then back to them. Clary get a grip, I think, it is a complete accident that they just happen to be in the same store as a crime scene.

I walk over to the first person I see and ask for their right hand. Once they stick it out I place it on my tablet so I can record their fingerprints. Next I pull a swab out and collect a DNA sample before asking them questions such as their name, date of birth and contact information. I wipe my tablet screen and move onto the next person. I keep doing this until I reach Jace and Izzy. This is when I notice Alec is there, but he is staring at his shoes. He is still wearing clothes that are not very flattering to his form, but at least he looks healthy. I mean they all look healthy. Oh come on Clary, stop thinking about how they look or anything else. Time to be a professional.

"Alec" I say to get his attention. He looks up at me. "I need you to put your right hand on the screen please." He does so without saying a word. Once it records his prints I pull out a swab. "I just need a DNA sample and then you can leave." I really just want to get this done with. He opens his mouth and I take a sample. I go to move on when Alec finally talks "Don't you need my contact information?" he asks.

"Nope" I say smirking. "I know your name and birth date already. I am just putting your mom's contact information down since you are only visiting the city." I say quickly before moving in front of Izzy. "Your turn." I say to Izzy while holding the tablet out to her. Izzy does not say anything, but she does stare at me the whole time. If I was not used to witnesses staring at me, this would get uncomfortable very quickly. Once I type in her information I look over to see Jace. "Don't need your prints or DNA, so you three can go if you have already given the detective your statement." I turn to walk away when a hand touches my shoulder.

"What do you mean you do not need my prints and DNA?" Jace asks. With this I smile and say "Um, did you forget that on your 18th birthday you were arrested for running through Central Park in your birthday suit? I mean, I know that is a blur and all, but you were an adult, so the police took your prints and DNA and then kept them on file." As I say this, you can see a small grin come over Jace's face. "Yeah, that was a good birthday."

"Yeah" is all I can say before pulling away. In reality it was my fault he was running through the park naked. I waited until he very drunk and then dared him to do it. I knew full well that he would never pass on a dare. Luckily, Luke was the arresting officer, so Jace only spent a few hours behind bars before letting him go home. Jace however, still had to do 100 hours of community service, but he said it was worth it since his birthday was so eventful.

I start walking back over to my equipment when Luke shows up right next to me. "Is there anything you need, Fray?" He emphasizes my name, so I know that he is not trying to pry into my personal feelings right now. Those questions will have to wait until later. "Yeah, I need an inventory list of everything that was on the floor when the robbery happened. I need to know what areas to look at first; it will be my best chance of getting any physical evidence before it degrades." I say. "I'll get the manager, oh and so you know, they just walked out." Luke says this and I release the breath I guess I was holding.

"Well, well, well if it isn't little Clary Fray." I know that voice. Ugh really, is it ghosts from Christmas pasts today? I turn around to see none other than Sebastian Verlac. Man I hate this guy. Talk about a self-centered asshole who spent years trying to break Jace and me up. Along with him always competing against Jon, Jace and Alec in football while we were all in school.

"Yep, that would be me. So Seb, you're the manager of the store." It was a statement, because really when it comes to selling expensive crap, Seb was your man. He could sell water to a drowning man. "Yep, here is the list of items that were all on the floor when those assholes came into my store." Yeah, that is Seb, this was all his, when really he was a glorified sales monkey. I smirk to myself before saying "Thanks now get out so I can do my job." Oh, the look on his face, you can tell he is used to giving and not taking orders. I strode away while looking at the list. Damn this is a lot of stuff. I am going to be here for hours. With that thought I start to get to work.


	7. Reconnecting

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I walk half asleep towards my car while lugging a case full of evidence. Eight long hours of dusting surfaces, collecting samples and taking pictures. Not to mention looking for each item on the inventory list to see if it was missing. After everything was said and done, at least 20 grand worth of product is missing. Everything from jewelry to handbags is gone. From what Luke told me, this crew was in and out in less than 10 minutes, which meant they knew the layout of the store and how long it would take for the cops to show up. Unfortunately, I didn't find any fingerprints around the cases or stands where the items were taken from. Until I run the swabs, I will have no idea if any DNA will show up either. I highly doubt it, since this crew is definitely a professional team. I don't think this is the last time we will hear from them.

"Clary?" I hear from behind me. Startled I look behind me to see Jace standing there. What the hell is he doing here? "Jace what do you want?" I ask with a high level of annoyance in my voice. I am tired and I still have hours of work ahead of me at the lab. The last thing I need is to see or talk to him again.

"I just wanted to talk to you. I know we ended things really badly, but I was hoping we could at least talk and figure out how everything went so wrong with us." As he says this to me I can only think of 'her' and what would happen if I became friendly with Jace again. "Not now, okay. I have too much work to do and to be honest, there is nothing to discuss." I say this while placing the evidence in my trunk and shutting it.

"Really nothing to discuss? I find that hard to believe." he says this with a sigh. "Come on little-bit, I know you. You saw me and fainted. Simon said that after he told you about seeing us you freaked out on him." All I can do is stare at him. He uses the nickname that was only his to use when talking to me. I think back to the first time I called Ana little-bit. She was so small and looked just like me. I know I should have used a different one, but no one ever questioned why I used that nickname. It is not like Jace ever called my little-bit in front of them. It was for us alone.

"Jace, what is there to say?" I ask. "I cheated, got pregnant and now I am raising my kid alone. It was just a shock to see you after all these years. It is not like I have been waiting for you to come back or anything." He grimaces at my words. In truth, I had prayed for them to stay away. It was the only way to keep them safe.

"Simon told me that what's his face disappeared after we left. He said you have been raising the kid on your own. I never knew that. In fact, for many years I wouldn't let anyone even say your name around me." Oh, he just gave me an opening to send him away and he doesn't even realize it.

I laugh, "Okay, I get it now. You're only here talking to me because poor little Clary has had to be a single mom." I spit out with a small amount of venom in my voice. "No Clary that is not what I meant." he says trying to defend himself.

"Yes it is! You want to be the night in shinning armor who swoops in with his money, good job and great lifestyle to save poor single mom Clary. Well let me tell you something. I am very happy with my life. I have a great daughter, a good job and a nice place to live. I do not need someone coming in and messing everything up. I stand by everything I said in the past Jace. You were always about you, Izzy most likely parties too much still and Alec is too judgmental for his own good. Nothing has changed for me." I yell all of this as I walk to my car door. I can see him just standing there and I hear him say quietly before I get into my car, "But I still love, that hasn't changed either."

I practically jump into my car before driving back to my lab. No there is no way he can still love me. Not after everything I have said in the past and just now. I mean, yes I still love him. He is the father of my daughter, the love of my life and one of the people I am protecting. Wow, I have not said any of those things even in my head since I came up with my plan to get them away from New York. What the hell am I supposed to do now? With that thought I pull into my parking space, turn off my car and cry.

After a good half an hour of crying alone in my car I decide it is time to bring the evidence I collected to the lab. When I finally get to my office I notice someone is sitting in my chair with their back to me. "Hello, can I help you? I think you have the wrong office." Okay now I am freaking out, because you need key cards and personal pass codes to get into the building, let alone my office.

"Hello Clarissa, it has been too long." OMG I know that voice, it's her. "Camille." is all I can squeak out before she turns the chair around. If it wasn't for the fact that she is a nut job, cruel and I am pretty sure part demon, I would consider her beautiful. She has long legs, a nice figure and long shinny black hair. However, her personality makes her ugly as shit. "Clarissa darling, you broke your promise to me." she says with a smirk.

"No. No I did not break my promise. You said I had to get rid of them and I did. They have been gone for over seven years. You had to know that I could not promise to keep them away forever. They all have family here." I rush through the words in hope that Camille will surprise me and act human for once.

"Oh, calm down Clarissa. As much fun as it has been to watch you wither away in pain and to watch Jon try to fix your main issue, this whole game has gotten a little stale." I cannot believe she thinks this is all a game. She has been messing with my life for so long and this bitch thinks it's a game.

"Camille, what…what do you mean it has gotten stale?" I ask. She smirks at me and says "I have decided to change the terms of our original agreement." I think I am going to faint. What changes could she have in mind I wonder? "Changes?" is all I can say.

"Yes changes. I think that it would be fun to have them stay. I heard from one of my little birdies that their stay is going to be quite long. None of them want to leave, so I guess that means I need to make some alterations so my game is fun again." All I can do is blink and nod to let her know that I am still listening. "Yes, they can stay, but you have some conditions that you must fulfill."

"What do you need me to do?" I know I have no choice, but maybe they will not be so bad. Yeah right, I am dealing with an evil psycho. "First, some of the original terms still hold. You cannot tell anyone else about your situation with me. I let the little slip up with Jon slide, mainly because of the pain it causes him. However, no one else is to know. Additionally, Jace cannot find out he is Ana's father." God I hate when she says her name or even mentions my innocent little girl.

"Aside from those two rules, you can try to make nice with those three if you wish." As she is saying all of this she has an evil little smile on her face. "Really?" I ask. "Yes Clarissa. You can even get back together with Jace if you can. It would be fun to see him with his daughter, even though he has no clue that he is her father. I am sure at first it will be fine, but then, I think it will sink back in that you cheated. However, after everything you said and did in the past, I am not sure if any of them will talk to you." Oh, so she does not know I have talked to them already.

"If you break my rules, then well, you know how I deal with people that disrespect me." I make sure to breathe in and out steadily so I don't pass out. "Why do you have to do this? I wasn't the one that ruined your life." Don't faint is all I can think now as I wait for an answer. She has never told me why she is doing this, but I have some inclination that it relates to someone else in my life. The only person that comes to mind has always been my father. Since he is dead, Camille can't get to him. So torturing me and my brother by proxy is the next best thing.

"The why is not important, what is important is that I get to play my game. Now you can go about your business. It will be so much fun to watch you be around them again while you try to keep all your lies straight. Remember Clarissa, you promised to do as I say." With that Camille stands up and walks out of my office.

I drop to my knees and cry. Broken promises are all I seem to be able to do. I promised Jace a future and I took that away from him. I promised Alec and Izzy that are friendship was important to me. Yep you guessed it, another broken promise.

So far the only one I have had any success with keeping is the promise I made to protect those I love the most.


	8. Seeing Old Friends

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I woke up to the best call of my life. Okay not really, but it was a great phone call. My boss, Manny, called about two hours before I had to be at work to tell me he was back in town. Since I have been working so long and hard lately he told to me to use four of my vacation days. This works out perfectly because Ana is off of school for a long weekend due to teacher developmental instruction, whatever that means.

Right now I am standing in my kitchen making pancakes with bacon for Ana. Since I was supposed to be at work at 6am I knew that it would be a surprise to Ana when she wakes up in her own bed. Normally, she sleeps so deeply that I can pick her up and drive her over to my mom's house without her waking up.

"Momma?" I hear from the doorway of the kitchen. "Hey little-bit, you want pancakes and bacon?" I ask her. She stares at me and I can see the confusion all over her face. "Yeah, but why are we here? You were supposed to work today."

"Yes, well Manny called. He came back early, so he said I could have the next four days off." I say with a huge smile on my face. I want her to think that nothing is wrong. She is really good at reading people for a seven year old, which makes it hard to hide the fact that everything else in my life is so difficult right now. "So it will be Momma and Ana time for the next four days?" she asks bouncing up and down now.

"Well, for the next three days, you still have to go to school on Monday." As I say this I can almost see the plan she is hatching to get out of school on Monday. "Analise Amanda Fray, whatever plan you are creating in that head of yours you need to stop right now." I said in my best mom voice. She knows that when the whole name comes out she better listen. With a huff I hear "Fine, but the next three days are ours to do as we please right?" she asks.

"Yeah, anything you want to do, you just have to name it." This is when she really starts to bounce up and down. Oh, did I just walk into a trap? Is she going to make me do weird things. I shake the thought off before she says "You promise?"

"Yes I promise." I say before really thinking about it.

"Great, that means we can still eat dinner at Grandma's house and spend time with all of her guests."

"Guests? What in the world are talking about? No one told me anyone was going to be over at Grandma's house tonight, well besides Grandma, Grandpa Luke and you." I say. Ana then looks down and hangs her head as she says "Well, see I kind of begged Grandma not to tell you. I'm sorry." What is going on, this is so not like her. I mean, I don't usually have a problem with Ana hanging out with grownup, unless it is who I think is going to be there. "These guests don't happen to be Celine and Stephen?" I ask before Ana looks up and says "And maybe a few other people."

I take a deep breath as I realize that Ana is waiting for me to answer. I promised and I have broken enough promises to know that I will have to deal with whoever is there. "Okay, but I get you the rest of the day." I say as I walk over and tickle her. She starts laughing until she promises that it will stay as Momma and Ana day until dinner time. I then proceed to call my mom and tell her that we will both be there for dinner. To say my mother was less than excited is an understatement, but after I reassure her that I will be fine with all of her guests, she relents and tells me what time to arrive.

Today has been a great day. I got to be just a mom and Ana got to do all the things she normally has to wait to do. Being a single mom restricts the amount of time I get with her alone. Either she is in school or I am working. Working as a lab tech for the police department does not give me a lot of weekends off. But for today, I got to focus on having fun and not worrying about work, bills or anything else that is stressful.

Right now we are standing outside of my mother's house. I can tell by the shadows through the windows that there are several people in the house. I don't really want to go in there, but Ana does so I guess I need to. "Uncle Simon!" I hear Ana squeal from right next to me. I look over to see Simon walking up to us with a worried expression on his face. "Hey, my two favorite girls in the entire world."

"Don't let Rebecca and your mom hear you say that." I say before winking at him. Simon shivers, "Your right, they would not be happy, but come on, you and little-bit are my nerdy buddies. My sister and mom don't get anime or video games." With this I laugh, leave it up to Simon to smooth out my mood with a few simple comments. "You ready?" he asks. "No, but I promised Ana before I knew what was really going on." Simon gives me a small smile before picking up Ana and carrying her towards my mom's house.

As we enter the house I can hear a lot of people talking. Now I am starting to wonder how many people are really here. Ana said that Celine and Stephen were going to be here, plus my mom and Luke, but who are all the rest of the people. I guess I am about to find out as Simon carries Ana into the living room. "Cece!" Ana squeals from Simon's arms. Man that girl is so excited tonight.

"There is my girl." I hear Cece say. As I walk into the living room I am stunned speechless by all of the people there. Celine and Stephen are there, but Jace, Izzy, Alec and Magnus are in the room as well. Of course Ana is excited; there are a number of people in the room that she has heard numerous stories about. I think everyone else in the room is just as shocked to see me, because the room is now silent. You could literally hear a pin drop upstairs it is so quite. I decide to break the silence by asking "Well, have you guys been witnesses to anymore crimes lately?"

This seems to break some of tension as everyone laughs at my attempt to get rid of the awkwardness. "Momma! You said no work talk tonight." Ana states. I laugh before saying "I never promised that."

"Momma, you promised years ago that there is no work talk at family dinners. We are having a family dinner and work talk is so boring." She adds a slight sigh as she curls her head into Simon's neck. This makes everyone laugh before Jace says "Oh and who do we have here?"

Ana pops her head back up and she looks at Jace. "I'm Ana."

"Well that is a pretty name. It suits you." Jace replies with a small smile. "My name is really Analise, but I hate my full name though, it sounds like an old person's name." Yes ladies and gentle this is my child. Everyone laughs again. Confusion crosses Ana's face before Jace says, "Your mom thinks the same thing about Clarissa, which is why she goes by Clary." With this Ana says "Momma, that's why you hate your name too?"

I guess I never told her why people don't call me Clarissa; it never crossed my mind to ask her why she disliked Analise so much. I didn't start calling her Ana until she started school. Before that it was always her full name or little-bit. One day she came back from school and said she wanted to go by Ana, I didn't see the harm in it so I went along.

"Yeah baby, I hate how old Clarissa sounds. But I will tell you a secret; if you call Jace by his real first name you will see a funny reaction." I say this with a smile while looking over at Jace. "Oh Momma tell me tell me!" I walk over to her and whisper it in her ear.

"Jonathan, what's wrong with that name? That's Uncle Jon's name too." Right on cue Jace gasps and covers his ears. "No, don't say that name out loud. I only ever hear it when I am in trouble." he says while looking over at his mother. I laugh at this. Jace has had the same reaction since he was little. Using his full name usually means he is in serious trouble. Ana starts cracking up laughing at his response. "Okay, Jace I will not call you that anymore, well unless I need to yell at you for doing something bad." she says with determination. You just got to love this kid.

However, that's when it hits me that she should be calling him Daddy and not Jace. I think my heart just broke a little bit more. "Dinner!" my mother yells from the dining room. With that everyone starts to leave the room. "Okay little-bit who are you going to sit by this time?" Simon asks as he carries her out of the room.

I look over to see Jace's reaction to Ana's nickname. He stops for a second before looking over at me and smiling. "What?" I ask quietly, "She looks just like me, so I thought it fit." Jace just continues to smile as he walks into the dining room.

Ana ends up sitting in between me and Jace. Well if this is not the picture perfect family setting I say in mind. If he only knew that the talkative child next to him is his daughter.

After the food is served, Ana starts asking Jace a thousand questions. It gets to the point where no one else is talking. Everyone is just sitting around the table listening to Jace tell Ana about all the places they have been and the people they met along the way. We all start eating, though my stomach is not really enjoying it. This sick feeling keeps coming over me with every question asked and answer given.

Every now and then Simon glances over at me trying to read my expressions. All I can do is smile back at him, while trying to hide the fact that a part of me is dying inside. The next thing I know I hear "Momma, did you hear that they have seen the pyramids. Like in person." she adds emphasis to the last part. You can tell she loves these stories; she has always wanted to see the world.

"Um, yeah I heard baby. Now finish your dinner so Jace can eat as well." Ana looks down before Jace say "I don't mind Clary."

"I know you don't mind Jace, you love to hear yourself talk, but Ana needs to eat." I say this with some annoyance in my voice. I know I am being a little difficult, but come on; the child needs to let him breathe and eat. I also need to stop hearing his voice for a few minutes. What happened next was something that I did not expect.

"You never let me have any fun! All I wanted was hear the stories!" she yells this as she storms out of the room. "Damn it. I'm sorry about this. I'll go and talk to her" I say before walking out of the room full of stunned people.

Now, which room did she run to? Each time she gets upset she will run off to a different room. It all depends on the reason. So I made her upset, which means she will not go to my old room. Then it dawns on me, she was hearing stories about the world. That means there are two places she would go. Outside or to my mother's studio, but since it is dark outside, I doubt she went there. My mom loves to paint pictures of the world. Mom's studio it is.

I walk upstairs to my mother's studio and open the door. Sitting in the corner I can see Ana curled up and crying. "Little-bit, you know that is not how we are supposed to react." I say this as quietly and kindly as I can while also trying to stay calm. She does not throw a lot of fits, but when she does you cannot overact. She is very stubborn, like her mom, so she will argue with you if you come on too strong.

"But it is not fair Momma. I just wanted to hear the stories." she says in between small sobs. "I know Ana, but you were not being very nice. Jace wasn't able to get a single bite of food because you kept asking questions." With this she looks up. "I didn't mean to be mean to Jace." she says quietly. "I know little-bit and I am sure he didn't take it that way. I just think that you were being a little over the top trying to ask all of your questions at one time. He was also being a little too nice by trying answering all of your questions."

"I'm sorry for being rude Momma. Can I come back down to dinner if I behave?' she asks me. "Yes, but how about we eat and then you can drive Jace nuts with a thousand questions. Oh and if you are really good for the rest of dinner I will tell you how to get the other ones to start talking too. We got a deal?"

"Deal." she says before we walk back downstairs to finish dinner.


	9. Pretending For A Moment

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

Once dinner is finish mine and Jace's parents stay in the dining room to talk while the rest of us move into the living room. Ana is sitting on my lap playing with my hair while she listens to Jace talk about their time in London. Suddenly she turns and whispers "Momma, you said if I was good for the rest of dinner you would get the others to talk too."

I nod at her and say "I am just waiting for an opening, since Jace loves to hear is own voice." I admit that I said this a little loud, but that was my goal. If I know anything, it is that Jace will talk for hours if you let him. You need to interject yourself into the conversation to get a word in. Jace clears his throat as if he is trying to hide a laugh. "Something to say Clarissa?" he says to me.

"Why yes Jonathan" I start, watching him glare at me. "I was wondering what Magnus has to say about the different types of glitter he found in Europe. I heard they have such a wide variety which include some called German glass glitter." I start. "Glitter? Why would Magnus want to talk about glitter?" Ana says innocently.

This is when everyone loses it. You see glitter to Magnus is like air or water to the rest of us. He uses it in his makeup, clothing designs, hair and even his food sometimes. Though he swears that the glitter he puts on his food is edible. I on the other hand have never had the courage to actually eat something with the edible glitter.

Magnus is the first to stop laughing. "Well my little biscuit, you see glitter gives me magical powers." he winks at her before continuing. "Glitter comes from fairies and it lets you do mystical things to your clothes, hair, face and even food." Ana just stares at him in awe.

"Oh God Magnus, do not start with the magical powers bit. Please for the love of us, you are not a warlock that can do magic." Izzy states. "Hey back off my man, he can believe what he wants." Alec adds in. This then leads into a 20 minute conversation over which glitter type is best for what project between Magnus and Izzy with Jace and Alec chiming in every so often with a comment of their own.

"I told you I could get them all to talk." I say into Ana's ear. She is enamored by how animated each person is as they talk. "Momma, these are the best people in the world." she says. It is just a simple state from a child, but a heart retching one for me. These were the people I looked up to and wanted to spend the rest of my days with. They were my family and for a few moments it felt like nothing had changed.

I guess my face changed because Magnus looked at me and said, "You okay over there biscuit?" No I thought. "Yeah, I was just thinking about the last time we had the glitter 'discussion'. It ended up with my hair being covered in 3 different types of glitter, because you and Izzy could not agree on which one matched my Halloween costume and makeup." I hope they believe the lie, because now everyone is staring at me. "I still believe the lilac and gold was the best." Magnus states. "Uh no, the sliver was the best one." Izzy says.

With this I start to laugh and look down at Ana who has an evil little glint in her eye. I am in trouble now. I clamp my hand over her mouth before she can create havoc. However, she licks my hand and I pull it away. Before I can stop her, she shouts "Uncle Magnus, you have to do Momma's hair with glitter!" Evil little shit that she is may get her way now. Magnus who was stunned at being called Uncle Magnus stares at me for a second before he proclaims that his little biscuit is right and I need my hair done. God someone save me.

An hour later and I have glitter all over me. "Now biscuit, don't you look adorable." Magnus says with a smile and a wink. "No I feel like a fairy threw up on me." It is an honest statement that gets everyone laughing. "Well, little biscuit here thinks you look great. Don't you?"

"Yeah Momma, you look great. Uncle Magnus why do you call Momma biscuit and me little biscuit?" Oh she is going to love his answer. "Well, you see both you and your momma are cute, little and strawberry colored. You both remind me of these little biscuits they serve in fancy restaurants in Paris. Which means," he stands and starts to walk over to her "that you are good enough to eat." With that he lunges at Ana and starts to tickle her. He used to do the same thing to me after someone would ask him why he calls me biscuit.

"Magnus stop tickling the poor girl." Izzy says with her hand on her hip. "Why?" Magnus asks as he stops tickling her. "Because, it's my turn." The next thing I know Izzy is tickling Ana. Ana gets a lot of attention normally, but it has been a long time since she has met new people. She is loving the new stories and the different personalities that come with this group.

Once Izzy is done tickling Ana she stands up and looks at me. "Oh no!" I yell backing away. Before I know it Izzy and Magnus are tickling me from different side. "Stop, please stop I can't breathe." I mange to squeak out as they continue to tickle me.

Next thing I know Izzy and Magnus stop and I hear two people gasp at the same time. I look up to see Alec holding Magnus's arms to his side and Jace has Izzy over his shoulder. "Ugh, I knew you liked her better than me." Both Izzy and Magnus say at the same time. Just like old times. I get ganged up on and Alec and Jace save me. Oh, my heart really hurts now.

I decide it is time to go before I lose it. "Okay, as much fun as this has been, I think it is time for Ana and me to get home." They all look at me sad, even Ana who is having a lot of fun. "Nope no puppy dog eyes Ana. It is already past your bed time and I am tired." I try to be as convincing as possible. I know it will be hard to sleep with my mind reeling from tonight, but it is starting to feel too much like old times. "Fine." she says. "But can we see them tomorrow. Aunt Izzy says that she will show me how to grow."

"Grow, really Izzy? If this is what I think it is, then I don't think so." I get out before I start laughing. Izzy's version of growing is stepping into a pair of very high heels. "Come on Clary, she is ready. Well unless she got your balance issues, then she may need some training first" Izzy says.

"Nope, she got her father's ability to balance not mine." I say this without thinking and look over at Jace. He looks like someone punched him in the stomach. There I go again, hurting him and reminding him of my fictional baby daddy. "Anyway, we will have to see what tomorrow holds. Say goodnight Ana. We need to be heading home."

Ana tells everyone goodnight before running into the dining room to tell her grandparents and Jace's parents goodnight. Once she is back we walk out of the house and to the car. On the way home I can only think of how hurt Jace looked when I mentioned Ana's father. If only he knew that she got her best parts from him.


	10. Momma And Ana Time

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I wake up the next morning more tired than I have been in years. I spent several hours last night laying awake thinking about how it was to be around the old group. I even had a few chances last night to really look at everyone to see if anything has changed. Simon is still in love with Izzy and she still has no clue. Magnus and Alec are still head over heels in love with each other. And Jace, well he is still Jace, arrogant, handsome, and talkative.

Since I forgot about my time off from work, my alarm went off at 5am. Instead of trying to lie back down for another hour, I thought it would be best to get up and start breakfast. What to cook when your stomach has no desire for food? Ana is always up for pancakes, but they take a lot of work. Maybe I will just wait, take a shower and then ask Ana if she wants to go out. Taki's is open 24/7 so we could get breakfast there this early in the morning. We have not been there in a few weeks due to my work schedule.

An hour later Ana is up at her normal time and I ask her about going to Taki's. Of course she is wants to go, so we head out. Luckily, the restaurant is only a few blocks away so we can walk instead of drive.

As we enter Taki's Ana is talking about all of the different items she wants for breakfast. She can never really decide what to get until we sit down with the menu. Not that either of us need a menu, but it helps her calm down when she sees all of her options.

After we are seated, Ana starts looking over the menu. "Maybe I will get something new." she says while staring at the menu. "Whatever you want little-bit. I think today I will stick with something simple."

The waitress comes over and asks for our drink order. I decide on black coffee and Ana gets chocolate milk. As she walks away I hear someone come up behind our booth and Ana gets a bright smile on her face. "Clary is that you?" I hear the person say. I turn around and see Alec standing behind me. "Hey Alec, what are you doing here so early in the morning?" It is the only thing I can think of to say.

"Well you know me. I can never sleep past 6 am." he says with a laugh. In turn this makes me laugh, "Yeah, I know someone just like that." Ana is now up and out of her seat bouncing up and down in front of Alec. "Uncle Alec come sit with us." she says.

"Well, I don't know. I don't want to intrude." I can see the uncertainty in his eyes. "Its fine Alec, you can join us. Is there anyone else with you?" I ask him praying that he is alone. As he sits Alec says "That would be a no. You know full well that Magnus does not get up before noon and Jace and Izzy are late sleepers too."

"Yeah I wish someone else was a late sleeper, especially on my days off." I say as I wink at Ana who has decided to climb back into the booth and onto Alec's lap. "Ana what are you doing? You and Alec can't eat if you are sitting on him."

"I want uncle cuddles like I get from Uncle Simon. I will move when the food gets here, but since we haven't ordered, I am staying here." I wipe my hand over my face while sending an apologetic look towards Alec. "Sorry, she gets like this with new people sometimes. I can get her to move if you want." I tell him. "No she's fine. I think I like this Uncle Alec job. I never had a niece before. I think I can get used to this." he says with a bright smile on his face.

What most people do not realize is that Alec has a very big soft spot for kids. He used to watch his younger brother Max all the time. He used to say it was the best job his mother ever gave him. However, Max is in college, so he has little time for anything other than school right now.

The meal I had with Alec and Ana was pleasant, even though the conversation was more one side. Ana spent most of the time in between bites asking Alec every question her 7 years old mine could dream up. Once we were done eating Ana begged to go the park. I asked Alec if he would like to join us and he was more than happy to.

As Alec and I sat on the bench watching Ana play on the monkey bars, I hear him say "I'm sorry Clary." What is he talking about? "Alec what are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong; at least I don't think you did anything." I get out before he continues. "We left you. You have had to do this all on your own. I know you hurt Jace and said some…well, not nice stuff to Iz and I, but that was no excuse."

"Oh Alec, you guys did nothing wrong. I made my bed and had to lie in it as the saying goes. I mean, I made the choice to cheat, lie and move on. It's no one's fault but my own." This conversation is getting uncomfortable. He cannot seriously think that they did anything wrong. What I said to all of them was horrible. I remember that fight like it was yesterday. I screamed all sorts of hateful things at them. My goal was to make them hate me. I was happy when they left, it meant they were safe.

"Alec, I only wanted what was best for you guys and being around me was not it. Plus I was not alone. I have Simon, Jon and my parents. Ana and I have a good life." I gave us all a safe life I added in my head. I look over at Ana and see she has moved over to the swings. "I have Ana and she's my everything. I don't regret the choices I made; it gave me the opportunity to be her mom. Without her I don't know where I would be."

"I know. I just wish we had not stayed away for so long. Jace was just so hurt and Iz had her career. Her lucky break as a model came right when we needed it. Her new job gave Jace a reason to get out of bed. He handles her security, I deal with the financial aspects and Magnus designs her clothes. Without her big break I don't know where we would be at either."

With Alec's statements I smile. I know where her big break came from. It came from me sending out her head shots to every modeling agency within 6 hours of us. That took me awhile to complete, but Jon helped. We knew that if the right company found her, they would know she was perfect. Magnus was also a shoe in as well, since he designed everything Izzy wore. Also, Izzy would never leave Jace and Alec behind.

"I'm glad you guys are all happy." I say. "Yeah, I just know that we would have been happier here with you, Simon and Ana. Not to mention the grief we would have avoided from our parents if we had stayed. Mom was always trying to get us back here. Celine keep trying to talk Jace into coming home as well. It wasn't until we ran into Simon and heard about the show in New York that we decided it was time to come home."

After spending some time in the park we went our separate ways. I forgot how much I missed talking to Alec. In the past it was never easy to talk to him, mainly because of his love for Jace. He was so jealous when Jace became interested in me. I had known them most of my life, but it was never easy for him to open up. He hid his sexuality for a long time and then his crush on Jace almost destroyed his chances with Magnus.

However, once Alec and Magnus fell in love and Alec came out of the closet, it became easier for us to talk. He was always the one I went to with the really big problems, aside from Jon. Izzy always helped with the girly issues, but Alec was there to help me with Jace. He understood him so much. This is one of the reasons it hurts so much to be around them again. I can see and feel the past creeping up on me and it scares me. What if I slip again? What will I do if she finds out I told them the truth? I shiver as Ana and I walk down the road. That is not something I can let happen I tell myself as we continue home.


	11. Time To Grow?

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I stand outside the airport 6 months pregnant and I am watching Izzy, Alec and Jace pull their suitcases behind them through the lobby. They are leaving for California today and it is the first of many stops along Izzy's new modeling career. I miss them already. It has been over 2 months since any of them has said a word to me, but at least I would see them from time to time.

As I stand there watching them, I see Magnus come up behind Alec and rest his head on his shoulder. I can see that they are talking about something serious but I can't tell what they are saying from this distance. It also does not help that there is a set of doors between us. Damn I wish I could read lips.

Am I doing the right thing? I think. I want so badly to walk through the doors of this damn airport and at least say goodbye. Right then my baby kicks. I place my hand over my growing stomach and smile. Yes I am doing the right thing. Jace may never know she is his, but he will know that she is safe and loved. I hated hurting them, but this is the best for everyone.

I wake up to a knock on my front door. I look over to the clock and see it is 2 in the afternoon. I must have fallen asleep on the couch after spending most of the day playing with Ana. Dreaming about them is always the hardest part of waking up. I have to realize that things may never get back to normal with them here.

With that last thought on my mind I stand up and walk over to the door. I wonder who is here, I don't remember inviting anyone over. However, I have been so tired lately that I might have forgotten something. As I swing the door open I see Izzy and Magnus standing there with bright smiles on their faces. "Uh guys, what are you doing here?" They look at me for a second and it almost feels like years ago when they would show up to do something with me.

"To make little-bit grow of course." Izzy says. What in the hell is she going on about. Then I remember the conversation from last light. "Really Izzy, you do not think that I am about to let you put my little girl into 5 inch stilettos do you?" I ask her. She rushes past me with at least 6 bags while Magnus walks in with another 4. "Oh Clary, I am not putting her in five inch heels. Well not yet." she adds with a smile and wink. "We need to start off small, so I got her small heels."

"Don't worry biscuit. I was there, the shoes won't add more than an half an inch to her. We need to train her so she can wear the same ones as Izzy when she is older. Plus we got cute little outfits for her to try on as well." Magnus says.

Oh by the angel, they are not playing dress up with my kid. "No guys, she is a little girl, not a play thing for you two to dress up." I don't know if they can hear the slight annoyance in my voice. My baby is not a toy and a small part of me is thinking that they are only here because she is someone new to play with.

"I appreciate the thought." I start with, "But I do not want to get her hopes up. I know you guys are only here for a small amount of time and I don't want her to get used to you all being around." Since no one said last night that they were staying past the show, I have to make it sound like they are leaving soon. This will also give me some confirmation on whether Camille was telling me the truth.

"Didn't anyone tell you Clary? We are not going anywhere. After being back in the city for not even an hour, we decided that it was time to stay here." Izzy says to me with a soft smile. "We decided to start Magnus's new clothing line here and I will be the main model. It will also allow us to stay around our family." Izzy adds.

Okay so Camille was telling the truth. They are all here to stay. Since she said that they could, I at least do not have to come up with another plan to get rid of them. Camille even said I could be friends with them again. But man this hurts. I have to keep my lies straight and not tell my secrets. Camille was right when she said this would be horrible for me.

"Really?" I try to sound surprised. "Yeah, so where is my little biscuit? I want to see how she looks in these clothes." Magnus says. "Um that is a good question. I feel asleep on the couch, so she is probably in her room or my studio. She likes to sneak in there when I take a nap to use my paints." I say to them. Yeah she is just like her mom when it comes to art, except she likes to make a mess with the paints. But she is only seven so what can you do.

From behind me I hear, "I did not go into your studio. Well this time at least." Ana adds. The only thing I can think now is good luck with trying to dress Ana up. She is so much like me it is not even funny sometimes. She hates dresses and half the time I have a hard time getting shoes on her.

"I hope you guys know what you are getting yourself into. She is like me is all I have to say." With that I walk into the kitchen to grab a drink of water to help calm my nerves some.

A few moments later Magnus walks into the kitchen. "You were not kidding when you said Ana is just like you." he says with a laugh. "Where's Izzy?" I ask. "Trying to convince Ana that dresses are not evil. However, your daughter is stead fast in her belief that dresses and skirts are evil and she is refusing to try even one on. But don't worry, I made sure to pick up some shorts and tops in her size as well. I think a part of me knew she was going to hate Izzy's idea of dressing up."

"How did you know her sizes?" I don't remember having a conversation last night about what size shoes and clothes she wears. "Honey, I dress people for a living. I can look at a person and tell you all of their measurements." I look at Magnus and think okay maybe a few things have changed. In the past, he would have stressed over each measurement first to make sure everything would fit perfectly before handing it to you. I guess time and experience has helped him get over his need for exact measurements.

Something does not feel right with them here suddenly. A few days ago none of them were in my life and now I have seen three out of the four people I missed the most in a matter of hours. "Magnus can I ask you something?"

"Sure biscuit, what's on your mind." he says. "Well, you guys have not been around for awhile and all of a sudden you are back and acting like nothing has changed." I decided to go with the straight forward question, mainly because Magnus hates to beat around the bush as he says.

"I have two answers for you and please let me finish before you start. The first one is that we all missed you and after some time we decided that even though you made some mistakes it was not fair of us to leave. That is the main reason. However, my reason is slightly different." Before he continues he walks over to one of the chairs in my kitchen and sits down.

"For me, it never sat right with us leaving. You changed so fast and it was so out of character for you to say and do the things you did. It was like you were a different person and a part of me thought something more was going on. So I decided that since we are staying that I want to figure out what really happened. I know you were never a very open person, except with Alec and Jace, but I am hoping with time you will open up to me." With his statement done he sighs.

Before I can fully process what he says Magnus continues, "To this day I wished I had walked out of that airport and told you that." What is he talking about, OMG did he see me that day. I guess the look on my face gave away what I was thinking because Magnus continued, "Yeah, I saw you standing there looking at all of us from the outside of the airport. You looked so sad for a moment, like you wanted us to stay. I even asked Alec right before we left if we were doing the right thing." So that is what they were talking about when I wished I could read lips all those years ago.

"Magnus there is no deep dark secret for my actions." and all the lying continues. "I made my choices and I don't regret them. They gave me Ana and she is my everything. I would move heaven and earth to keep her safe." Oh crap I think I took that too far. The look on Magnus's face tells me that what I said came out too strong. "Safe, why would she not be safe with us around?" he asks. "Forget it. I just mean that I needed to do this on my own and not have to deal with anyone's wounded pride or hurt feelings while trying to raise my daughter."

Before Magnus can ask another question I hear, "You ready Momma, I look fabulous or at least that is what Aunt Izzy says." With that Ana walks into the kitchen in a pair of black glittery shorts, white crop top and a small pair of black heels. "Yes you look fabulous, but you are not leaving the house in that. You look too grown up." I say in my best mom voice. This cracks all of us and Ana goes back to playing dress up with Izzy and Magnus for the rest of the day.


	12. Let's Party

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I have to admit that yesterday was a great day. Ana got to spend hours dressing up in all manner of outfits, though most of them would not work for school. Some of the clothing was a little outlandish and they would never pass the school's dress code. Ana also stuck to her guns and refused to try on a single dress or skirt. Izzy said she would be keeping them. She is determined to get Ana into a skirt at least. However, Izzy does not realize how fast kids grow and most of the clothing she bought may not fit in a few months.

Magnus decided that he needed a kid's line as part of his new clothing line. I think he just wants an excuse to make Ana a thousand different outfits. Izzy and Magnus were so great with her. They were patient and kind, which can sometimes be difficult with a small child.

They decided to stay for dinner, which was again a one sided conversation with Ana asking them a lot of questions and not giving them enough time to actually answer her. Magnus did try and ask me about the comment I had made earlier a few times, but I was able to deflect them. My only problem now is trying to figure out the best way to get Magnus off my case.

This is when an idea hits me. I call my mother and ask if she would allow Ana to spend the night. I told her that I wanted to go out and have some fun. She was a little shocked by this, mainly because I never go out anymore. To settle her down, I said that I needed some grownup time and it was about time I settled things with the old group. After getting off the phone I told Ana about my plans. I assured her that I was going out very close to her bed time, so we would not lose any Momma and Ana time. I also promised to pick her up in the morning for school.

Next step was to call Izzy and tell her I wanted to go out. I knew that girl would take any chance to dress me up and take me out clubbing. She kept saying I looked stressed last night, which is the truth. Even though a good night sleep is appealing, I need to do some damage control. Izzy said she would meet me at my mom's house around 7 o'clock to help me get ready. It still kills me that she needs at least 2 hours to work her magic on me. I decided Ana could stay up till 9 so she could see what Izzy does to me. As much as the prospect of allowing Izzy to dress me and do my makeup makes me cringe, I know I need to get the whole group focused on the here and now. I need them to forget about the past. The more questions they ask, the harder it becomes to lie.

True to her word, Izzy was at my mother's house at 7 to get me ready. Ana sat on my old bed watching Izzy pull large amounts of items from her bag. She also started to giggle when she saw my face as Izzy handed me a piece of fabric and said it was a dress. "This is not a dress Iz, this is a tiny piece of cloth that is not going to cover anything." I tell her. "Clary, I promise it will cover up everything that is needed, but shows off your rockin' body all at the same time." she winks at me while saying this.

"Ana make a note. Never let Izzy dress you up when you are older. You will have to sit for hours while she tugs at your hair, puts you in stupid clothes and then plasters your face with makeup." I say to her. Ana just giggles and watches at I squeeze into my dress. "But Momma, you said no one can dress you up like Aunt Izzy." she tells me.

"Hush you. You are supposed to be on my side. Iz do I really have to go out looking like this? What kind of example am I setting for my kid over there?" I ask her. "You are showing her that even a mom can look fabulous." is all Izzy says before she starts in on my hair.

Two very long hours later Izzy is finally done with me. The whole time she would not let me look in the mirror. I fear for what I must look like. "Okay now you can look." Izzy tells me. I walk over to the mirror and it is like staring back at my 17 years old self the night we went to our last party as a group. I had to sneak out of the house that night, because I knew my mother would have lost her shit if she saw me in this type of outfit. I smile. That was also the night Jace and I created Ana. What can I say, one too many shots plus a short dress for me equaled a really fun but consequence filled night. I don't regret it though, but I think tonight I need to stay away from the drinks. Plus it has been years since I have had anything to drink, so I am a total lightweight now.

"You look fabulous Momma. Green looks pretty on you." She is in awe of how I look. Wow she is starting to make me tear up. I realize now that my smile is reaching my eyes, something that does not happen often. I know she is happy, but I think for the first time she sees that I am happy. "Okay little-bit, it is time to go to bed. I let you stay up late enough."

"But Momma, I want to say goodnight to everyone. I promise after that I will go straight to bed." she begs. "Fine, why don't you go announce me." I tell her. Now Ana has a confused look on her face. "That means go tell everyone Momma is coming downstairs." Izzy tells her. With that Ana is off the bed running down the stairs. Okay time to get this show on the road.

Before I leave the room I turn to Izzy. "Who all is coming tonight?" I didn't ask earlier because I was so focused on getting everything set up for tonight. "The usual, Simon, Alec, Magnus and Jace." she says trying to gauge my reaction. Keeping my smile on and emotions in check I say "Okay, I was just wondering."

"Momma, they are ready for you!" Ana yells from the bottom of the stairs. "Here we go Izzy." I say walking out of my old room and down the stairs. I make it to the bottom to see Ana with a bright smile on her face. I give her a kiss and tell her goodnight before she runs upstairs to bed. This is when I see everyone staring at me. Jace in particular has his mouth hanging open in what I can only describe as awe and shock.

I walk over to him and place two fingers under his chin. I push his mouth closed and say "Don't want any flies getting in there." It is the same thing he said and did to me my freshman year of high school when I saw him shirtless at the pool. He smiles and looks before saying "Wow you look incredible Clary."

"I know." is all I say before grabbing my bag and walk to the door. "Time to get this party started!" Izzy exclaims as we all walk outside and towards the subway. Maybe tonight will be more fun than I thought it would be I think with a smile on my face


	13. I Remember You

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

 **Author's Note: Just a little something to tide you guys over. I have a busy weekend ahead of me and I don't know when I will be able to update next. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a few days. There are a few songs specifically listed in this chapter and I recommend you look them up for the scenes. Trust me, you will love the songs and yes, I am showing my age with these songs. LOL**

The subway ride was uneventful, which is exactly the way you want it. I did notice a couple of guys staring at me, but my main focus was on Jace. God he looks great in his black denim pants, white button up and leather jacket. Come to think of it, he wore a very similar outfit at that last party we went to. Nope, not going there. I need to stay in the here and now. I cannot have a repeat performance of that night, especially since it was the night we conceived Ana.

Once we got to the club the bouncer let us right in. With Magnus's connections we were escorted to the VIP section of the club. At least this area was not overly crowded with people. I had a few moments to catch my breath before Izzy pulled me onto dance floor. After a couple of songs we headed back to our area to order drinks. I decided to go simple with a Jack and coke with extra ice. This way I can sip on the drink and pace myself. I so do not need to get drunk tonight.

However, my plan went out the window when Jace brought over a tray of shots. I glare at him and decline at first. Then he has the nerve to call me a chicken and when that doesn't work he dares me. Damn my nature, but I never back down from a dare. Next thing I know I have had 4 shots of tequila and 2 Jack and cokes. To say I was feeling it was an understatement. This is when I get the bright idea to drag Izzy back out onto the dance floor. One of our favorite songs came on and we made an interesting pair. I can feel the alcohol loosen me up and decide to slide my hands down Izzy's hips while pointing my head to the side. It just so happens that we have an audience of 5 or 6 guys watching us. I feel like I am floating as Izzy and I brush our fingers over each other's arms, hips and stomachs while we dance to give those guys a show.

You can now feel the heat coming off of the guys watching us. This continues throughout the next song until I feel a set of hands reach around my waist. If Izzy hadn't been smiling so hard I would have been scared. However, once I feel the hands with my own I know it's Jace. He slides up behind me and whispers into my ear, "If you keep dancing like that with Izzy then I WILL be getting into a lot of fights tonight."

I try to suppress my shiver, but the alcohol is not letting me. Jace sighs into my ear and says "God Clary what are you doing to me?" I don't know what I am doing to him, but I know what his hands, voice and breath are doing to me. It takes the last amount of will power I have not to turn around and kiss him. His hands start to run up and down my hips as he dances with me for the rest of the song.

When the next song starts it is a slow one, well as slow as this club is going to do. At first I did not recognize it, but after the first few lines it all came back to me. Skid Row's I Remember You was playing. Jace spun me around to face him. For some this is an old song, but to us it was ours. "I requested this just for us." he tells me.

We were little kids when we first heard it. It was playing on one of the rock channels that liked to play music from the 80's. At our last party, Jace had convinced the DJ to play it. He promised me the world that night. As the song goes on I feel like I am 17 again and I am dancing with the love of my life. With no cares or worries to burden our young love.

When the guitar solo starts I can't seem to help what happens next. I kiss him with all of the pent up stress, fear and love I have had hold onto for last 7 odd years. Jace responds by wrapping his arms around me and he kisses me back just as fierce. I can tell with this one very long kiss that he has missed me just as much. As much as I need to break away I cannot force myself to do so. It's only when we really need to breath that the kiss ends.

We then stand there with our foreheads touching and my hand over his heart as he says, "I remember you and I still love you." My breath catches in my throat. What do I say? I love you, I need you? I am rocketed back into reality with those thoughts. I have two options I can let this play out or make a clean break and thank him for all the good memories. I don't want to lie to him anymore, but I can't tell him the truth. So I opt for the least painful response I can come up with.

"I love you too, but sometimes it is just not enough." With that I pull away and run out of the club. With my adrenaline pumping I start to run down the street until my lungs are burning and my need for air is all consuming. Well that sobered me up pretty well. I decide to hail a cab instead of taking the subway home. It is better to be safe, particularly when you are alone at night in New York City. As I ride along in the cab I think, I can't deal with the lies or the pain anymore.

Once I reach my house I pay the cabby and go inside. Standing in my living room I remember the kiss, the feel of his heart beat against my hand and look in his eyes when I told him that love is not enough sometimes. It was only a split second before I ran, but I could see the pain and the hurt in his beautiful golden eyes. I walk over to the radio and turn in onto the oldies rock channel. It is my mother's favorite channel, since they play a lot of songs from her early 20's, when she used to party or so she says.

The song When I See You Smile by Bad English just started to play. My mother used to say this song reminded her of how even in the darkness, the light will find its way. As I listen to the first part of the song it seems like it was written with my life in mind. Then the chorus starts and all I can think about is Jace. That is when I feel it, Jace's hands around my waist. He turns me around and I can't think. I don't want to think.

He must have known I would come back here. Hell, I don't even think I shut the door when I walked into the house I was so dazed. "I am not letting you go again." He says before kissing me again. When he pulls back he holds me to his chest and slowly sways to the sound of the music. "I don't know what is going on, but I will never let you go again." Jace says the last part over and over as we sway to the music. This is when I break and start to cry. What am I going to do now?


	14. Jace's First Plan

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

 **Authors Note: This is one of a few chapters that will be from Jace's point of view. I felt it was needed to make the next part of the story flow properly.**

Jace's POV

I stand here holding Clary as she sobs into my chest. Clary is the strongest person I know and for her to break down like this, let's just say it is scaring the crap out of me. When she pulls away I notice that she teeters some in her high heels. "Guess you're not as sober as you thought you were." I say to her. She hiccups and sighs before saying "Yeah, I guess not."

"Let's get you into bed." I say before she gives me a funny look. "Not like that. You have had an emotional night. We can talk tomorrow." This is my chance to put my plan into action I think. "Come on, you can change into your pajamas and I will tuck you in."

I walk her down the hall to her room. While Clary changes in her bathroom I turn down the sheets of her bed. She comes out and even in her flannel pjs she looks so beautiful. "Hop in little-bit." She giggles when I say this. "That's the same thing I tell Ana when I put her to bed." she tells me before climbing in.

Once Clary is settled I make it look like I am leaving. "I will use your keys to lock the door and then I'll drop them through the mail slot." She smiles at me and closes her eyes. I make my way over to the door and I open and close it before turning the lock. I then grab her keys and drop them on the floor. I really need her to think I left so she will fall asleep faster.

I stay very quiet for at least 10 minutes before I walk back towards her room to see if she is asleep. She looks so beautiful and stress free when she sleeps I think as I walk over to her side of the bed and kneel down. I am waiting for her to start mumbling, which is the key component for my plan to work.

What no one else in the world knows is that when Clary is drunk she talks in her sleep. You can even ask her questions if you keep your voice down, calm and you keep the questions simple. I know this because this is how I found out that she loved me for the first time.

We were in high school the first time she got this drunk. It was at one of Izzy's parties and after drinking too much we decided to lay down in one of the guest bedrooms. Since we had been friends since childhood it was normal for us to sleep in the same bed from time to time. That night I was having a hard time falling asleep because she kept mumbling. I thought she was talking to me so I asked her what she was saying.

That was when she said I love you to me. I was so shocked, because one she had never said that before and two, she had no idea that I was in love with her and had been for years. I remember looking at her the same way I am right now and realizing she was asleep. I took that opportunity to ask her a few more questions such as how long she loved me and if she really wanted me to love her. She answered them all.

I knew that even though she was asleep she was being truthful with me. What also helped was that the next morning she did not remember anything she had said. This meant that I was allowed to say it to her first a few months later while we were both awake.

I never told her about this little quirk, because I never knew when I would need it to my advantage. After we started fighting all those years ago I would try to get her drunk so I could find out what was really wrong, but it never worked. It was the only time that she backed down from a dare. I realized later that she already knew she was pregnant, which is why she would not drink. Things were so confusing back then. It was like she changed overnight.

When Izzy told me that we were planning to go out tonight and that it was Clary's idea, an idea of my own struck me. If I could get her drunk enough and then get her home, I could get her talking. I know it was not the best idea since she could have decided to go back to her mother's house. But this was the only way I could think of to find out what is really going on. She looks so tired and stressed since I came back. Even Alec, Magnus and Izzy had said so as well. When I talked to them about her the other day, they all seemed under the same impression that Clary is hiding something, especially Magnus.

I then decided to talk to my mother, who has been around Ana a lot, she says that Clary gave up her dream of becoming an artist to work at the crime lab. Clary chose her daughter's comforts and needs over her own desires. That just made me love her more.

This is when the mumbling started. Finally I think, now I can get somewhere. She keeps mumbling I'm sorry. This is my chance, so as quietly as I can I ask her "Sorry for what?"

"Lying." Okay I am getting a response so I keep going. "What lies?"

"'Bout Ana." Wait what? What lies is she telling about Ana? A painful realization is starting to set in. I have to control my emotions right now. If my voice gets too high or emotional it will wake her up and I will lose my chance for answers. "What about Ana?" I ask. "Jace is daddy." she says. Right now my heart breaks into a thousand pieces. How can I be Ana's dad? Clary had a DNA test done to prove that I was not the father. "How is Jace daddy?" I ask.

"Jon change." is what she says next. Okay now it is all making sense. Jon is a computer hacker by trade. When this all went down he was working on his computer science degree and interning at the hospital. Jon changed the paperwork, but why would he do that? Did he hate me that much that he did not want me to be there for Clary and my kid? "Why?" is all I can get out next.

"Blackmail." she sighs as she turns over onto her side away from me. She is now in the middle of the bed and I would have to raise my voice for her to hear me. Damn it. I knew I would only have a short window to ask her questions, but how am I going to get the rest of the answers I need. Then it dawns on me, I need to get to Jon. I stand up and walk out of Clary's room. I grab her keys, unlock the door, quietly open it and relock it. I also make sure to drop her keys through the mail slot and hope she does not wake up from the noise.

Twenty minutes later I am walking up to Jon's door determined to get the answers I need. I got his number from Izzy who got it from her mother the other day, so I texted him to make sure he was home. He will give me the answers I need I think before knocking on his door.

When the door swings open you can see how tired he is. I thought Izzy said today was his day off. Maybe he spent the whole day with his girlfriend that we have heard about. "Jon." I say with a high level of annoyance in my voice. "Jace, what brings you to my humble home?" he asks. Where to start I think. "Well let me in and I will give you the many reasons I am here."

Jon moves away from the door and I walk in. After he shuts the door I walk into the living room and sit down on the couch. My hands are shaking from anger, resentment and excitement. I mean who would not be pissed at finding out they missed out on 7 years of their daughter's life. On the other hand, I am thrilled that Ana is mine. From the moment I laid eyes on her I was drawn to her. Damn it, it I hadn't been so blinded by anger back then I could have prevented so many years of heartache for myself.

"So, was anyone ever going to tell me that Ana is my daughter?" I ask looking at Jon with a very stern face so he knows that I know the real truth. The next thing I know Jon is on his knees and he looks like he is about to faint, cry and scream all at the same time. "How?" he asks. "You mean how did I find out? Who told me?" I practically scream at him. He only shakes his head yes before I continue. "Clary told me."

"No, there is no way in hell she did that. She knows the consequences of you knowing the truth. What did you do to her Jace? How did you get it out of her?" Jon asks with pure anger in his voice now. "What are you talking about? Consequences?"

"Yes Jace, there are huge consequences for you knowing this information. So I ask again, how in the ever loving hell did you get her to tell you?" Jon yells at me. "She did not tell me willingly if that is what you want to know. She got drunk tonight and it just so happens that Clary talks in her sleep when she is drunk. I knew that if I asked her questions, she would answer them. Don't worry your pretty little head. She will have no clue what she said in the morning. On the other hand I will still remember." I say with venom in voice.

Jon is staring at me in disbelief. "Jace you have no idea what you have done. What I am going to do now to save your sorry ass?" the last part seems to be Jon talking to himself. "Jon what the hell are you talking about? I need to know why all of this has happened." I say. All Jon does is stand up and motion for me to follow him. I get up and follow him into a room that looks like tech heaven. There are so many computers in this room and they all seem to be running a different program. Alec would love it in here, he loves computers and he is really good with them. However, I have never seen this many computers in one small space before. What does Jon need with all of them?

"Watch this first and then I will explain what I know." Jon walks over to one of the computers and brings up a video file. It looks like a surveillance video when it starts playing. What I see next completely confuses me. It is a video of Izzy, Alec and myself walking out of a building when we were probably 17 or 18 years old. The next thing you see is flames coming from the building. What the hell. None of us were ever near a building that was on fire back then.

"Jon what the hell is this. None of us were ever near a burning building back then." I tell him, confused beyond belief. "I know that Jace, but this is the reason Clary lied about everything. Just let me tell you what I know." he says before continuing. "The day Clary found out she was pregnant with Ana she was scared and happy all at the same time. Well that is what she told me. She said that as she was walking out of the hospital to go see you, some lady walked up to her. This 'lady' wanted to show Clary a video. It was this video. She then told Clary that if she wanted it to stay a secret, then all three of you guys would need to leave."

Jon sighs and sits down before he continues. "When Clary said there was no way she would do it. The woman told her that Clary would raise her kid alone, whether that meant you all went to prison or you guys left town. It was up to Clary to decide. I found out a few days later when Clary was getting sick in the bathroom. She told me about the video and I asked her if she had a copy. The lady was 'nice' enough to give it to her. I took the video and analyzed it. Hell I have been analyzing it for years. There is some type of coding in the video that puts you three there, but until I can figure out the code I cannot remove you guys from the video. I need the code to see the original video."

"This is insane Jon. So someone created a video of us walking away from a burning building, so we would what have to leave? We have great lawyers Jon; we would have gotten out of trouble." I say. "No you don't get it Jace, Clary looked up the building. Two people were killed during that fire. That is at least two Class A felonies along with arson in an attempt to cover up a different crime. In this case it was robbery. The building housed thousands of dollars worth of jewelry and artwork, which were all stolen that night. So you see Jace, with this video it looks like you guys were there and had a hand in the crimes. The cops would argue that you either knew all about it or that maybe you set the fire to cover for someone."

I can't believe what Clary has had to go through. But one thought keeps popping into my head. "That still does not explain why Clary lied to me about Ana being my daughter." I say. "That was another condition of Camille's, that's the lady's name, game as she calls it. You could not know. So, Clary and I came up with the fake daddy, I changed the paternity test and I helped get you guys out of town. I mean come on Jace, Izzy just happens to get her big break right as things take a shit between you and Clary. My sister spent hours packaging up Izzy's headshots to send out to every modeling company within 6 hours of us. She was determined to keep you all safe. As for Camille, she has some vendetta against Clary, so she came up with all of this. To this day we have no idea why she is doing this. Camille says that seeing Clary in pain is something she deserves and seeing me not be able to figure out the coding is just a bonus. The problem is Clary and I never did anything to her. We did not even know her before that day."

As Jon is telling me all of this I can't help the fury that is building. I lost so much and no one knows why. "But Jace man, you cannot let Clary know that you know. It would cause her to go insane. She has spent so many years alone and missing you three, it would kill her if she thought she failed."

"Well if she is supposed to keep us away, why is Clary all of a sudden spending time with us?" Now I am really confused. "Clary told me over the phone the other day that Camille got bored with her game and she needed to breathe some life back into it. So she says that you can be together with her and Clary can be friends with the others. However, the other terms still apply. If Clary tells you the truth about Ana or making you leave, then the video goes to the cops. The crime is still unsolved. Since I can't crack the code on the video yet, there is no way I can help. To make matters worse, we have no proof you guys weren't there that night. You guys went to a party and even Clary says she can't remember that night." he says to me. "This bitch is really twisted." I say to Jon. She gets so much pleasure out of making Clary's life hell and she won't even tell her why.

"We just need to keep this between us until I can figure out a way to break this damn code." Jon says. "I think I might know a way, but it will take some time to set everything up. We have to do this slowly so that Camille doesn't know what's happening." With that said I leave before Jon can talk me out of my plan. I promised Clary the world and by hell or high water that is what this girl is going to get.


	15. Family Time

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

Back to Clary's POV

Ugh, I woke up to the most annoying sound on this planet and no it was not my alarm clock. Someone is at my front door. I look over at the clock and see that it says 6 am. Oh come on! It is my one time to sleep till 7. Ana is at my mom's and I don't need to take her to school until 8. I scrabble out of my bed and walk to my front door. God help who is ever on the other side of that door I think.

I open the door to see none other than Jace flippin' Herondale. "What the hell are you doing here so early?" I ask. He smiles and hands me a fresh cup of coffee. Okay, so hating him a little less now, since this means I don't have to go get the coffee myself. "Came to bring you coffee." he tells me.

"Wait, what are you doing up this early?" Now I am intrigued. He never gets out of bed before 10, just like Izzy. His dad is the one with the early morning alarm clock, just like Ana. I told you she gets that horrible trait from her father, well her father's side of the family. "The bigger question is why am I up so late." he says with a smile as he walks into my living room and sits down.

"You're telling me that you never went to bed. How are you even walking and talking?" I say as I sit down as well. "It is my gift. I can stay up for about 2 days before I get a little weird from the lack of sleep." he says with a smug tone. "Ugh where were you when Ana had colic as a baby. I could have used that ability. If I go more than a day without a goodnight's sleep I am a walking zombie the next day." This is when I notice a change in Jace's face. He seems sad. What gives, I mean it was hard when Ana was a baby, but a lot of babies get colic. It's not like she was seriously ill or something.

"What's up? You look like I kidnapped your puppy." I say. His face changes to a serious look before he says "I was just thinking that she could have been mine. Hell, I should have never have left. I should have known that her so called father would up and leave. I mean the man couldn't even take time off from school to meet anyone in your life." Oh wow that hurts. If he only knew that he was Ana father. "Jace it's okay really. I mean yeah it was hard, but I got through it."

"Anyway, I wanted to see what you were doing today. Your mom told my mom that you have today off. So I wanted to know if you would like to spend it with me." In bed I thought, that would be fun. Oh get your head out of the gutter. Yes we kissed but we were both drunk. He may not want to take it any further. "I just have to take a shower, get dressed and take Ana to school. Other than that my only plan was to come back here."

"Okay, well I can come with you to take Ana to school and then come back here. I mean maybe we could talk about last night and see where that takes us." he responds. "Jace you don't have to come with me to get Ana and then take her to school. Why don't you stay here and I will be back in a little while. Maybe you can catch an hour or two of sleep that way." Oh man he wants to talk. I need time to think about what I am going to say.

"Nope, I like the idea of seeing Ana off to school. Plus I want to see if that elementary school ever managed to clean up the outside. I mean seriously, how much time does it take to rake the leaves and pick up the trash outside." Well there goes my time to think. He is so determined to go with me. Maybe he thinks I won't come back for our talk or if I do I will take several more hours than I need to before I get back here. "Okay, I'm going to go get ready, but if you are asleep when I come back out, you are staying here." I say before walking towards my room. If I am lucky he will be out like a light before I come back out. I mean I have a very comfy couch and it is easy to fall asleep on.

Luck is not on my side today. When I walk back out into the living room I see Jace walking around looking at all of the pictures I have up. If you want to know what my daughter looked like throughout her entire life all you have to do is walk around my living room. Her whole life is on my walls, mainly because she loves getting her picture taken. She also wants to hang up every single one I take. I stop for a second and just watch Jace. He has this look of sudden awe on his face. I walk over behind him to see which picture he is looking at. I smile when I see it. The picture is of Ana at age three and she has two very large tarantulas in her hands. "That was her third birthday party." I say. Jace jumps a little since he did not hear me come into the room.

"Tarantulas at her third birthday party. Why?" he asks. "She was enamored with them when her daycare went to some exhibit in the city. She begged me to get her tarantulas for her party. Even at three years old that girl knew what she wanted. I told her I would as long as the spiders did not come and live with us." I laugh at that, she was heartbroken when they had to leave. "Simon has a friend who owns some, so he was nice enough to lend us those spiders for the day." I shiver just thinking about them in my house again. I hate spiders. "Still not a fan of spiders." Jace says with a laugh. Like there is something wrong with disliking spiders. "Yeah well at least I am not afraid of ducks." I stick my tongue out at him before telling him it is time to leave.

The whole drive over to get Ana for school Jace was almost bouncing in his seat. I really think he is overestimating how long he can go before getting weird due to lack of sleep. When we arrive Ana is standing outside with my mom. She runs over to the car and climbs in before I can even get out. I wave to my mom and yell thank you out the window. My mom smiles at me and waves before I pull away from the curb.

I don't normally drive Ana to school, but since I needed to pick her up I had to park the car before she could go in. "Jace would you like to see my classroom?" Ana asks and before I can tell her no Jace says, "That would be lovely miss. Would you show me the way?" He has such a bright smile on his face that I decide to go with it. "What I don't get an invite?" I say with a fake sigh and hand over my heart. "Oh Momma, you can come too." she giggles.

After getting out of the car Ana grabs my hand and Jace's hand before continuing. He looks so happy at the simple task of walking our daughter to her classroom. Sadly he does not know she is his daughter. This puts a frown on my face for a moment, but I quickly change it to a smile before either of them can ask me what's wrong.

When we enter Ana's classroom she shows Jace her desk and all the pictures she has drawn that are up on the walls. I just watch them from the front of the class. "Miss Fray, so lovely to see you. Is there anything I can do for you?" her teacher asks me. "No, Ana just wanted to show a friend of ours her classroom. We will not be staying long." I say as I smile at her.

Ana then takes this opportunity to walk over to her teacher. "Miss Pennhallow, this is my Jace. Jace this is my teacher Miss Pennhallow." We all laugh at Ana's introduction. "Well he's your Jace is he?" her teacher asks. "Yep. I decided to keep him. He is funny and smart and I think I want him to marry Momma." she says proudly. Okay so this is getting uncomfortable. Cue the crickets. Jace breaks the silence by whispering something into Ana's ear. Her smile seems to get even bigger before she says that she wants to play before school actually starts. She says goodbye, which is our cue to leave. "I will be here after school to get her." I tell her teacher before we leave.

The car ride back to my home is very short and quiet. I wonder what he told her right before we left. I am thinking about all of the things he could have said, which leaves me with more questions than answers. I really don't want to get her hopes up about him sticking around. I have no idea what his plans are. Plus I have a demanding career that requires a lot of time and dedication, which does not leave much time for a social life. But right now I can only think about the talk Jace wants to have with me. My stomach flips as we walk towards my front door. Dear God, don't let me regret this conversation, please I silently beg.


	16. True Confessions

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

 **More adult content than before. Warning Issued.**

I sit down on my couch the moment we get back into the house. Silence fills the room as Jace paces in front the couch. He wanted to talk, so he can talk first. He has no idea how long I can stay silent. I have spent so many years working crime scenes on my own, which means you never have anyone to talk to. I'm used to the quiet.

Suddenly he stops and kneels down in front of me.

"Clary, I don't know how to say this right, so I am just going to say what is in my heart. Please let me get through everything before you speak." I nod to let him know I am listening. "I have loved you for longer than I can remember. The first time you told me you loved me, I just broke, but in a very good way. You broke my heart into a million pieces and then glued them back together so that each piece had a part of you attached. When we ended I tried to hate, I wanted to hate you." he stops to take a breath. I need to hold it together, but I can feel my eyes starting to tear up.

"You were and are the only girl I will ever love. You taught me how to think about someone other than myself. You showed me how to look at an image and see all the beauty there is to see in it. God, I wish I had stayed and raised that wonderful little girl with you. I wish so many things. I wish that we could go back and stop the fighting. I wish that you still loved me the same way I love you." With that last statement I place a shaky finger over his mouth. I take a deep breath before saying "Jace I never stopped loving you. You have no idea how many times I wished I had stopped you from leaving. But after everything I said and did, I knew it was best for us to have some distance." The only thing I can think of to do next is kiss him, so I did.

I put all 7 years of need and want into that kiss. I wrap my arms around his neck so I can pull him into me. This is when he slides his arms around my waist and lifts me up. Before I can really think about what I am doing I wrap my legs around his waist as he carries me towards my bedroom, his lips never leaving mine the whole time. I know where this will end and by God himself if anyone disturbs us I will commit murder.

Jace kicks open my door with his foot. He then carries me to the bed before lowering me down. I feel my back hit the bed as he breaks away from the kiss. I look into his eyes and see the same need that I know is shinning in mine. With my legs still wrapped around his waist, Jace straightens up so he can pull his shirt off. My breath catches as I see his stomach, chest and then arms exposed. God these 7 years have definitely been good to him. His muscles are bigger than when he left and he has a slightly deeper tan. I feel myself getting ready for what comes next.

To say Jace is an aggressive lover is an understatement. He likes to set the pace and he likes to be the dominant partner during sex. The one thing I always remembered about us being together is how much he used to worship my body. Lingering kisses over each piece of skin. He could spend hours worshipping at the altar of Clary as he used to call it.

I just wish he would let me touch him for just a second. However, before I can reach for him, he bends down and starts kissing my lips, cheeks, jaw and neck. How have I gone so long without feeling this?

I feel his hands slide under the bottom portion of my shirt and then he lifts it off over my head. After he throws the shirt over to the side he just stares down at me. At first I become a little anxious that he won't like what he sees. I mean it has been a long time and the only things I really got from having a kid are a few stretch marks and a slightly bigger cup size. However, my fears go away when he says "God you are so beautiful Clary." He says my name in almost a whisper, like it is prayer to some deity you worship. He then proceeds to kiss every piece of exposed skin.

I, on the other hand can feel the bulge hidden in his pants pressing up against my core. I know he likes to set the pace, but I have learned a few tricks over the years. Sadly or gratefully how ever you look at it, I have never been able to use them, so here I go.

With as much strength as I can muster I push him forward off of me. The look of confusion on his face almost causes me to laugh. However, I have a much different goal in mind to keep me focused. With him distracted momentarily, I hook one leg behind his thighs and use the other one to push myself off the bed. I then spin us so Jace is flat on his back and I land straddling his hips. "Much better I say." as I start to unhook my bra.

Jace is so stunned at first that all he does is stare into my eyes. Once he notices that my bra is gone though, he gets back into the game by running his hands down my breasts and over my stomach. I push his hands away so I can bend down further to kiss him. Skin against skin is always the best feeling. I start to rock my hips to let him know that I am controlling what we do. Surprisingly, Jace relents and allows me to kiss him anywhere I can reach. After some time I can feel the burning inside of me. I need him too much.

I decide that it is now the time to stop playing around and to get to business. With that thought I jump to my feet and start to remove Jace's pants and then my own. He looks at me with wonder in his eyes, particularly when I bend down and use my teeth and hands to remove his boxers. I hear him say my name as a prayer once again before he grabs me and places me underneath him on the bed. Before I can say or do anything my underwear is gone and Jace is inside of me. I guess there is no more foreplay before the main event. Glad he got the memo.

It was not a short love making session. He spent hours making me climbing the highest highs just so I could break apart in the most wonderful way. After our third time, we were both spent. He picks me up from my bed and brings into the shower. He spends countless minutes washing every inch of my body. Again he pays homage to my body by making sure that all the soap is gone before turning off the water.

While standing in my bathroom in a towel I hear my stomach growl. "I guess you worked up an appetite, didn't you?" Jace says with a laugh. "Yeah well someone didn't feed me before he decided to spend hours ravishing my body." I say with a wink as I walk out into my room. I find my cloths and get dressed. "Well then I guess I will need to feed you, especially if we want to 'exercise' again."

"Sorry buddy, but Ana gets out of school in 2 hours and we cannot spend all day in bed. Remember mom first, love slave second." I say as I walk towards the kitchen. Jace follows me and starts to rummage through my refrigerator for something to make. "How do sandwiches sound?"

"Cheese sandwiches?" I ask. "Of course you know they are my specialty." he tells me before he starts getting everything together. I am getting a glass of water when I hear a sudden gasp, thinking that he burned himself I spin around only to see a horror stricken look on his face. "Jace what's the matter?" He is just standing there staring at me with devastation all over his face. "Clary we didn't use anything, like nothing, any of the times." My reaction brought him out of his fear induced panic. I start to laugh, almost uncontrollably. "What is so damn funny Clary?" he almost yells.

When I calm down some I look over at him. "It's okay Jace; well unless you have an STD I don't know about." I say to him. "No I don't have any STD's, but there is something else that comes from having unprotected sex." he says with determination. "Oh believe me I know Jace. I have a cervical implant that works as my birth control. I can't get pregnant unless it comes out. I mean medically speaking it could fail, but the odds of that are slim to none."

You can literally see the relief come over his face. That gets me thinking, does he even really want kids? Is he just putting up with Ana so he can be with me? However, what I hear next changes my mind. "Good, we already have one kid. I don't think I am ready for another. Well not yet at least." he says this all with a smile on his face. So he already considers Ana his kid. Maybe there is hope. I may never be able to tell him Ana is his, but maybe that does not matter to him at all.


	17. Jace's Second Plan

Jace's POV. This will most likely be the last one from his side during this story. Hope you enjoy it.

As Clary and I sit at her table eating the sandwiches I made, I am mentally slapping the crap out of myself. Luckily, Clary did not think twice about what I said about already having a kid. Maybe she just thinks that I already consider Ana as my own. I do but that is because she is mine. I need to keep a better check on what I am saying to her.

"So Clary, where did you learn that one move?" I ask. I still can't believe she spun us around that way. "Oh, you mean the push, tangle and spin one?" I nod. "Crime techs need to be able to handle themselves since sometimes the cops leave long before we are done. In some cases, people come by the scene and like to make trouble. It has never happened to me, but it has happened to other techs?" I never knew her job could be dangerous, I thought all she ever did was collect samples and stuff.

Before I can say anything else my phone buzzes. I look down to see a text from Alec.

 **Alec:** It's a go. We have what we need. Get to Jon's place ASAP!

 **Jace:** OMW, did you tell everyone to show up too?

 **Alec:** Yeah, but I'm waiting to tell them everything until you arrive. You are the only one that can control this group.

 **Jace:** Got it, see you in 20.

"Everything okay Jace? You have this really serious look on your face." Clary asks me. I muster my most confident face and say "Yeah all's good. Just some work thing I need to handle. This sadly means that I need to go. Are you working tomorrow?"

"Yep, but my regular shift, which means I start at 7 and end at 7. At least Ana will be awake before I have to leave for work. It makes it easier when I don't have to carry her. I tell you that child sleeps like the dead until 6am on the dot. Then she is up and ready to go." Clary says with a laugh. I feel a punch to the gut. Clary has been taking care of her for so long on her own, but no more. I am going to get this dealt with and then get my family back.

I stand up to leave, so I kiss her and ask her if I can come by tomorrow night and she agrees. I hate leaving, but my plan to get my family back and keep them safe is about to hit over drive.

Twenty minutes later I am walking into Jon's apartment. When Izzy stands up she asks "Jace what is going on? Magnus and I had to cancel a photo shoot because Alec said something about needing to save your family."

"Yeah Izzy, we do. But before I tell you guys everything, you need to let me finish. No interrupting with silly comments or stupid questions. You got me rat boy?" I say looking at Simon with a smirk. "Shut it Herondale." he says with a smile.

So I start the story with Alec and Jon by my side. The story takes over 30 minutes to explain every detail we know about the past. "Holy shit!" is all Simon can say. Izzy has tears in her eyes and Magnus looks like he is going to punch a wall. Not very like him, but this situation ruined our whole family and he wants payback. "My thoughts exactly when I heard the whole story." Alec says.

"So this evil bitch blackmailed Clary by using us as leverage?" Izzy says. "Yeah and you know Clary, if she can help one person even if it hurts her, she will still do it." I say. "My poor biscuit. I am going to hunt Camille down by any means necessary. I will call all my contacts, I will pound the streets, ask a thousand questions till I know where this Camille is and then I will put a bullet in her." Magnus says. Wow a little overdramatic even for Magnus. But hey I am good with that plan.

"Hey it's no time to become Dick Tracey on us." Simon says. "Who?" I ask. "You know the old comic book character who was a cop or private eye, not sure which one really." Simon pauses for a second to think. "Anyway he tracked people down using all of knowhow and then instead of arresting them, it usually ended with him just shooting the guy." Simon finished.

"Well I do look great in yellow and I can so rock a yellow and black fedora." Magnus adds. "No one is turning into Dick Fucking Tracey!" I yell. "We need to keep this quiet until Alec and Jon can break the code." I say. Sometimes I really wonder about this group. One moment we are talking about what happened to Clary and the next Magnus wants to be Dick Tracey. God help us.

"So how are you guys going to fix this then?" Izzy says. "I have no clue, but Alec came up with a possible solution." I turn to him and say "Alec, why don't you explain. I still only understand about half of what you told me." I tell him.

"Well basically, Jon, myself and about 50 other hackers from all over the world are going to attack a single computer that only has a copy of the video on it, well not including its basic operating system. We are hoping to brute force our way into the portion of the video that holds it sub-coding, which is the area where Camille's hacker his hiding the real video. This is going to take luck and time. Like I told Jon, 7 years ago this would not have been possible without a super computer. However, nowadays there are programs and people we can use to try and make this work."

"What if it doesn't work?" Simon says with uncertainty in his voice. "Then we go with Magnus's plan and go all Dick Tracey on her ass." I say. "I wish." Jon says. "What do you mean?"

"Jace do you think if it was that easy I would not have already found her ass and put her in the grave." Jon says. I never really thought about it. "Look guys, Camille gave herself an out just in case someone did try to take her out. Clary told me that Camille has the video on a time delay. This means if she does not enter a pass code or something into one of her devices, then the video goes straight to the cops."

"God, can this get any worse?" Izzy moans. "Yeah it can Izzy. If at any time Camille knows that you all know. The video goes to the cops and Clary will never forgive herself. That means you, Alec and Jace end up in jail for the rest of your life. These were all Class A felonies. Two murder counts, one count of arson and one count of burglary. You get what I am saying. Everyone keeps their mouth shut, even to Clary about this until we manage to get this damn code." Jon is practically yelling by the time he is done.

"So when do you guys start?" I ask. "In an hour. We are making sure that all the hackers have easy access to the computer." Alec says. "Are you sure we can trust them not to just steal the video and use it against Clary. I can't have anything go wrong if I am going to save my family."

"Yes we can trust them, but to be safe we made it so that the video file corrupts itself if it copied from to an outside computer. Only one thumb drive can safely remove the video before it destroys itself." Alec reassures me. Okay in an hour we start, now we only have to see how long it takes before we are finally free of Camille and her threats.


	18. Bam!

Back to Clary's POV for the rest of the story.

I have to admit that going back to work after four days is really hard. I had the best time with Ana over those days and Jace and I managed to get back together. Well I think we are together. I guess I will need to ask him about that tonight. It is weird to think that after all of these years Jace and I are finding one another again.

Walking from my parking spot into the building is supposed to be uneventful. Sadly that is not my case today. The moment I step out of my car someone is waiting for me. Her, why her? Why now? I think. If she thinks that I am giving any of them up again, then she is wrong. If I have to I will convince all of them to leave. I'm sure we can find a nice non-extradition country for all of us go to.

"Clary." Camille says with a very bright smile. Why the hell is she so happy? "Camille. What can I do for you?" You know, like light you on fire, send you to the moon or maybe find your humanity I think. "I just wanted to congratulate you for getting your friends back and especially for getting Jace back. My little birdies said they saw you at the club. You looked quite happy together. That was until you ran away. Did you guys ever make up?"

God I hate her. What about my life does she find so amusing? "Yeah, Jace and I worked it out." I say. "But?" asks Camille with one eyebrow raised. I hate people who can do that. "But, I hate lying to him. It is killing me Camille." I let a tear fall from my eye. "I want him to know that he has a daughter. Can't you just leave me alone, please?"

With an evil smile she says "Nope." and she walks away. I hang my head low and walk over to the elevator. When it comes to a stop and the doors open I walk in and wait for the doors to shut again. Once I know that no one is looking at me I raise my head and smile. That bitch is not going to ruin my life anymore. But there is no harm in letting her think that she is. Yes some of what I said is true, I hate lying. However, if I need to lie to keep everyone safe and have them in my life, I will do so.

I then decide it is time to get this elevator moving, so I slide my keycard through the reader. This will allow the elevator to take me to the floor where my lab is. Time to get some work done; God knows Manny didn't do much since he has been back. I am sure he still has vacation brain.

Why do I always have to be right? As I thought, Manny had done very little work over the past four days. There was hours of lab work that needed to be done, which included running samples, matching prints and up loading the data into the computer. Around lunch time a call came in about a home invasion and they needed a crime scene tech. Great, this is my chance to get out of the lab for an hour at least. I decide to head over instead of having Manny send one of the other techs.

When I arrive at the house I notice how small and cute it is. Well at least it is not one of those huge houses that have 10 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and a separate dining area from the kitchen. Those houses I hate, because they usually take hours upon hours to deal with. If it was one of those houses I would have had to call in the other two techs to help out.

"Yo Fray over here." I hear someone yell. Officer Mason, at least it is an officer that does not treat me any differently because my dad was a cop and so is my stepdad. "Hey Mason, so what do we got?" I ask as I walk over. "Oh you know your basic home invasion with a cruel twist. There are missing items, a broken window and sadly a dead dog." he says with a shutter. Mason is a dog lover, so seeing that was probably too much for him.

"So you guys already sweep the scene?" This means did they walk through my entire crime scene leaving footprints that I have to keep track of. No, it really means that they checked the entire property to make sure the bad guy left. "Yeah the first officers on the scene cleared it. Here are their badge numbers, so you can get a copy of their fingerprints, shoe patterns and DNA should it come up during your evidence collection." Yet another reason to love Mason, he always makes sure I have what I need before I go in. "Also, the homeowners are at a hotel and said you could just lock the doors when you leave." he tells me while handing me a set of keys.

"Thanks I will. You can go now. If the scene is clear, you know I would rather be by myself so I can get my work done faster. You go serve and protect someone who needs it." I say while I laugh and walk into the house.

Man what a mess. This guy really turned this place upside down looking for stuff to steal. Probably another junkie who needed some money to feed his fix. In the corner I can see a blanket covering what looks to be a rather large dog. I can tell it is a dog by the tail that is coming out the back end of the blanket. I still don't understand a person who can hurt an animal. Shaking my head, I decide to take samples from the dog first so I can get this part over with.

After collecting and labeling the samples I place them in my back pocket. I don't have time to keep going back to my case to put down the evidence right now. I take my camera and start snapping pictures of the room. For some reason this house makes me edgy. I don't know what it is, but I need to get this done and get out of here.

That's when I hear a strange noise, almost like wood creaking, but all I see is a wall of carpet and linoleum. Where in the hell is that noise coming from? I think. Then Bam! Lights out for me.

Oh my head hurts and so does the rest of me. What the hell is going on? I seem to be thinking that a lot lately. I try to open my eyes but they are so heavy. I feel like I am at the bottom of a pool trying to swim to the surface but the surface is getting further away. I am so tired as well. Think Clary what is the last thing you remember. I try to think. Wait I know! I was working a crime scene when I felt weird. The house was creeping me out. I heard a sound of wood creaking and then nothing. Did someone hit me, what the hell happened to me I scream in my head.

I guess this is when my adrenaline started pumping throughout my body because I could finally open my eyes. What I saw next was the best sight. There was Jace asleep in some type of hospital chair with Ana asleep on his lap. Damn where is a camera when you need one. I open my mouth to speak but nothing comes out.

I take a few deep breathes, which hurt like hell, and then I tried again. "Jace." it came out as quiet as a whisper. Oh hell, they both sleep like the dead. With my voice not working so well I decided I needed another option. I look down and this is when I notice that I have Ana's stuffed duck in my hand. I wish I could have seen Jace's face when he saw Ana's favorite toy. I was always thankful that she did not inherit the Herondale's fear of ducks.

Let's see do my arms work. I try lifting one and it goes up, it hurt but it lifted. Yes, we have lift off. I then take aim and throw the duck right at Jace's head.

When it hits him he wakes up and looks up. "What just hit me?" he asks the air I guess because he still does not realize I'm awake. "Me Goldilocks." I barely whisper. Thankfully it was just loud enough for him to hear. "Clary, Oh my God you're awake."

He gently lifts Ana off his lap and places her back down on the chair before he walks over to me. "Thank you God for bringing her back to me." he says while staring at the ceiling. Then he looks back down. "How you feeling?" he asks. "Fine I guess." This is when I notice that my voice is a little louder. He bends down and kisses me. "Man I missed you. But before the doctors all come in here and do their thing I need to ask you something. Okay?" I shake my head so he knows I understand him. "Marry me?" he asks holding out a ring to me. This is when I cry and just shake my head yes. There is no way I can do anything else.


	19. Getting Some Answers

**Authors Note: If you leave a review and you do not want spoilers please say that in your comment. I like to respond to reviews and give people little spoilers about specific things they have asked about. You can also PM me if you want small spoilers, because I love reading spoilers myself. Happy Reading!**

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

After the initial shock of Jace proposing wore off, I was finally able to say in a quiet voice "How long was I out for?" He looks into my eyes before responding "Don't worry about that right now. I need to get the doctor." Jace rushes out of the room and I am left wondering what happened. I remember getting hit or something, but nothing else past working the crime scene. I look at Ana still sleeping in the chair and then at the clock. It was Tuesday when I know I got hurt, so it must be Wednesday, because the clock says 11 am. Why is she asleep in the hospital? It is a school day. Maybe they had a long night waiting for me to wake up I think.

The next thing I know Jace is coming back into the room with a boat load of people. Doctors and nurses rush over to check my vitals and then they start asking me all these ridiculous questions. What day it is, the last thing I can remember, my name, and who the president is. The questions seem to go on for hours, though by looking at the clock they really only lasted about 30 minutes. Ana is now in Jace's arms, she is awake and just staring at me. She has this look of wonder on her face, like seeing me awake is a miracle. I must have been really hurt if she was that worried about me.

"Enough!" I manage to yell. Yes! My voice is getting stronger. "I want to know what is going on." Before I get an answer the door to my hospital room flies open and my mother and Luke rush in. "Oh thank you God. Your awake." my mother says as she rushes over to me. She pulls me into the biggest hug. "Ouch mom, too tight, still in pain." She gives me a confused look. "Why is she in pain?" she directs this questions to my doctor.

"Her muscles are still weak and not all of the cuts and bruises have healed yet." he tells her. Yet? What does that mean? I have only been out for a day, right? A horrible feeling comes over me. "How long have I been out for?" I manage to get out. No one is saying anything. Instead they all file out of the room. What I see next is all of them talking right outside my room. Well hello people! I think. I am a grown ass adult; I should be in on this discussion. "Hello!" I yell. My mother turns around and holds up her hand to let me know to wait. Oh hell no. To prove that I was not going to be ignored I decided to be my stubborn self. I start pulling the leads from my body and right as I am about to yank the IV out I feel a hand on mine. "What do you think you are doing?" Jace asks me.

Apparently he had handed Ana to Luke before he came back into the room to stop me from getting out of bed. "Well, since you all are talking about ME I thought it would be nice to join the discussion. Since you all left the room, my only option was to get up and walk out there." I say with a lot of venom in my voice. "It's not that simple Clary. I don't even think you could stand, even if you wanted too." Jace finishes. "Then how about you guys stop being fucking idiots and tell ME what the fuck is going on." I yell at everyone in the room. Ana eyes are now huge as she stares at me in shock, and then she says "Momma bad words. You owe the bad word jar a dollar." I just have to laugh. Leave it up to my daughter and not my mother to scold me about using bad words at a time like this. "Sorry little-bit, I promise to put a dollar in once we get home. But until then I need you to cover your ears, because Momma is so not done. Especially if all these so-called adults don't get their act together and start talking."

So I wait. They all look to one another. No one is saying anything. Nope not doing this. "Okay, how about I start." I say before continuing. "Get me my release papers. I don't care if I have to crawl out of this hospital. I'm leaving. No one wants to give me answers, so I guess nothing is really wrong, so I'm leaving." They all know I am stubborn enough to do this. I stare into each one of their eyes before Jace finally cracks. "Fine." he says. Yes! I knew one of them would crack and just tell me. "Fine as in I can leave or fine as in you are going to tell me what is going on?" I say while looking him in the eyes.

"Fine as in I will tell you what you want to know." He looks at the doctor, who nods, before he continues. "Clary, you were hurt really bad. Some guy hit you over the head, which caused you to crash through a glass coffee table." I stare at him in utter shock. This can't be the only reason they are acting this way. Yeah getting hurt sucks but something else happened. "You have been in a coma for 8 weeks." he finishes.

"Eight weeks? So you are telling me that it is now summer time, which is why little-bit is here instead of in school. Wow okay wow, I don't really know what to say about that." Eight weeks of my life gone, really? Then a thought comes to me. If I have been out for eight weeks then who was taking care of Ana? I mean my mom had to come here from somewhere else and Ana was asleep on Jace's lap. I look over at Ana and say "Hey little-bit can you go outside with Grandpa please? I need to talk to Grandma and Jace, which means not nice words may come out. You can come right back in after I am done." She shakes her head yes and lets Luke take her from the room.

"So would either of you two like to tell me who the fuck has been taking care of my kid? Because last time I checked, Mom you were the one who was supposed to take her if anything happened to me. Well that is what the legal paperwork says. Yeah that is exactly it. So why was my kid here in the hospital with Jace?" I say all of this while staring at them. If looks could kill then I am pretty sure they would be six feet under right now. "Clary honey there is no point getting upset. Ana has been just fine. Jace has been really great with her." my mother tells me. Now I am pissed. I created that paperwork a long time ago just in case something like this happened. I know that Jace is her father, but he doesn't. That really isn't even my issue, we only just got engaged and Jace had barely been around Ana before this happened.

"You guys are seriously on my shit list right now. I mean, what Jace and I get back together for five seconds and you think 'hey I have a great idea, let me let the new boyfriend take care of my grandkid', yeah real great plan mom." I look over at Jace and I can see the pained expression on his face. "Jace don't get me wrong. I can see how much you love Ana already, but come on, I was out cold and you two went behind my back and changed who was supposed to take care of her. I'm sorry but this is the momma bear coming out in me and you two screwed up. So here is what is going to happen. You my lovely new fiancé, no I am not dumping you, are going to leave, take a shower and eat something. You look horrible. Mother, you are going to get me Manny and then take my daughter to the park. A hospital is no place for a child. I am fine, a little weak and sore, but fine. Now go before I say or do something I regret."

Yeah they know this Clary; it is not the time to argue with me. Ana pops back in before she leaves with my mom and Jace is a good boy and leaves too. When it is finally quiet in my room the crime tech comes out in me. I need to know what Manny knows.

About 20 minutes later Manny walks into my hospital room and he looks like crap. Normally he has a bright smile, but instead his smile is weak and he has bags underneath his eyes. "Wow Manny, you look like crap. I guess you had to do all the work since I been out, I don't think it agrees with you." I say with a smile to see if I can get him to smile bigger. "Not funny Fray. I was so worried about you. If it had not been for Mason deciding to stick around outside the crime scene, I have no idea how long it would have taken anyone to find you." he says.

This gets me going. "Yeah about all that. The soft headed people here will not tell me everything. I know you Manny; you don't beat around the bush, so just tell me what I want to know. Okay?" He nods at me before I continue. "So the last thing I remember is taking pictures of the crime scene and then hearing wood creaking. After that I know that some guy hit me and I feel through a glass coffee table. Other than that, I don't know anything. Well, I really didn't give them a chance to tell me since there was an issue with them worrying about me being in a coma and then they had the nerve to tell me that my boyfriend, while now fiancé has been watching my kid." I get out in one long rant.

"First, congratulations on the engagement. Second, they were very worried, at one point no one knew if you were going to make it through the night, let alone an 8 week coma. Third, the guy who hit you was hiding in a crawl space. The first responders missed it because the crawl space had a hidden door. I guess the guy used to live there as a kid and knew where to hide to avoid the cops." It is so nice to talk to someone who is not going to spare my feelings and just say it like it is. "Lastly, I told Luke you were going to lose it when you found out about Jace taking care of the kid. Luke said there was a really good reason for it, but it is not my place to tell you that story." Now he is being cryptic. I will have to think about that some more later. "How do you know the guy used to live in the house?" I ask him.

"Well after Mason got you to the hospital he went back into the house to secure the scene again. That is when he noticed that the dog was gone. That freaked him out, because the dog was dead. He told me about it and I thought it was just as weird. When I got your belongings from the hospital to check for trace evidence left behind by your attacker, I noticed the samples you had in your pocket from the dog. I ran them and I got a DNA match in the system. When we found the junkie, he admitted to robbing the place, taking the dog and hitting you before he ran out the back of the house. Obviously not in that order."

"So the dog bit him, which is why he took the dog. By why did he hit me?" I asked Manny. "He said he did not mean to hit you so hard, he just wanted to knock you out so he could take the dog. He had no clue you had already gotten samples from the dog. The junkie was only trying to keep evidence that could implement him in the burglary from being found."

"Well don't I have all the luck? Thanks Manny, at least you guys caught him." I tell him. Manny then says his goodbyes and goes back to work. Well at least I don't have to worry about that guy again. Now I just have figure out what story Luke told him. I knew asking Manny would be useless since he told me that was someone else's story to tell. Manny is a man of his word, so it would be pointless to bug him further. I slowly turn over onto my side and think, what is going on?


	20. Freedom?

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

Bored, I am so bored. Sitting in this hospital room with nothing to do is horrible. The doctors told me no TV, internet or news papers, because they do not want me to overwhelm myself with information that has had happened in the eight weeks I was in a coma. It has been over a week now and the only time I leave this room is to go to physical therapy. My whole body is weak from being asleep, for a lack of a better word, for so long. To even go to the bathroom I have to call a nurse. Well I am supposed to, but I don't. Yep, I have already been yelled at twice today alone for doing that, but hell if I am going to call someone so I can walk 10 feet to pee.

Jace did bring me a sketchbook and my colored pencils so that I would have something to do while I sit in here all damn day. However, even the artist in me is bored. I still have to stay in the hospital for another week at least. That is so not happening. I am thinking about planning a prison break. I keep going over all of my options, but they all sound like mission impossible scenes from the movies. I could pretend to be a spy though I think. Slowly get up, steal a doctor's coat and walk out or in my case shuffle out of the hospital. I swear if something does not happen soon, I will jump out the window. I'm only on the third floor, I'm sure I could stick the landing. This gets me laughing. I just miss the outside world. Right now I just want to see my friends and my brother, but the doctors don't want me to become overly excited.

You have one minor outburst at the people who are supposed to love you and abide by your wishes and you become overly excitable. No more new visitors, however, I do get to see the people who were there in the first hour of me waking up.

Hell, I still can't get any answers about what Manny said about a new story either. Every time I bring it up, they shut down my questions with we will talk about it when you get home. At least everyone is excited about the engagement or at least that is what they tell me.

I am in the middle of this thought when the door opens. Jace walks in with Ana holding his hand. At least they are not keeping her away from me. "Hey little-bit, Momma missed you so much." I tell her as I hold my arms open for a hug. She lets go of Jace's hand and runs to me so I can get a big hug. "Missed you to Momma." she tells me when she pulls away.

"So Jace I was thinking." I start. "About?" Jace asks. How do I phrase this so I can get my way? I think for a few seconds before I answer. "If you don't let me out of this hospital I am going to Mission Impossible my way out of here. I am bored. I miss the outside world. I'm serious Jace. Being stuck in here is driving me up the wall. I want to feel the sunshine, be around other people and eat something that this horrible hospital did not make."

Jace laughs before saying "Let me see what I can do. Give me a couple of hours and then I might be able to grant a wish or two. Little-bit, watch your Momma while I go talk to the doctors."

"Got it Daddy." she says. My eyes open so big. "Daddy?" I ask. Now Jace is nervous. "Yeah, um we will talk about that later. Ana no more okay?" he directs at her. She nods and he walks out the door. "Okay spill kid, what is up the daddy thing?" But she only looks at me like she has no clue what I am talking about. Why does my kid have to be as stubborn as me? "Fine, you keep your secrets; at least tell me a story then." I say to her. She then spends the next 20 minutes telling me the story of how Jace reacted when he met Fluffy her stuffed duck. I have never laughed so hard in my life.

When Jace came back he told me it was time for my physical therapy. Yay I get to look stupid by walking like a two years old. I know I should be grateful that I'm even awake, but this hospital is getting to me. I did get lucky that none of my injuries led to any permanent disabilities, but right now I do not feel that great. After two hours of walking, standing, sitting and throwing a ball, they said I could go back to my room. The nurse was chatting away while she pushed me through the halls, but I really wasn't listening to her. When we finally reached my room, Jace and Ana were waiting outside. Ana was bouncing again, which can only mean that she is excited and I mean really excited about something.

"What's up guys?" I ask with a suspicious tone. "We have a huge surprise for you Momma." Ana says as she reaches for the door handle. Now I am really curious about what is happening in my room. "Let Momma go in first, okay little-bit." She nods as she pushes the door open and the nurse pushes me through.

What I see is amazing. My hospital room looks like one of those beach resort scenes from the movies. Is that a real palm tree in a pot? I think when I look in the corner. There is a small umbrella with a tiny table under it and it has those little drinks with mini umbrellas in them. Fairy lights are strung up all around the room and my bed has a colorful beach blanket on it. In the other corner I even see a small kiddy pool that has sand and play tools for Ana. What is going on? I think before I look into the last corner and see Jon, Izzy, Alec, Simon and Magnus standing there.

I say the only thing that comes to mind, "How did you convince Magnus not to sprinkle the place in ten tons of glitter?" This gets everyone laughing. "The doctor said he would ban me if I did." Magnus says with a frown. After this I spend the next 10 minutes hugging everyone.

"Jace how did you get the hospital to agree to all of this?" It was just so much and I am sure the doctors and nurses are not going to be thrilled. "You can get a lot done when you donate to the hospital."

"Donate? You didn't do that so you could make this happen. That would take a lot of money." I say shocked. Jace laughs and says "No my mother has been donating thousands each year for years now. She called in a favor." Wow so his mom donates money each year that's cool of her. We all spent the next few hours talking about the past. Magnus was explaining how he made his kids' line a reality and Simon kept cracking nerdy jokes. It felt like old times.

It has been a few hours since everyone left. I try to sleep but I can hear the TV that is playing at the nurses' station. Since it is close to midnight now and there is a small crew of nurses I decide to sneak over to my door and look out. No one in sight, they must be making their rounds. I slowly walk out of the room and over to the TV. What I see next sends chills down my spine. Camille is on the late night news. I stare at the screen and listen to the reporter.

 **Reporter Commentary:** "This is Rob Richardson reporting from outside City Hall. Just six weeks ago Camille Belcourt was arrested and charged with two counts of first degree, one count of arson, one count of felony burglary and one count of felony blackmail. A video surfaced just prior to her arrest that showed Ms. Belcourt leaving the scene of the crime right after a building was set on fire. The two security guards for the business were killed prior to the fire being set. After police received the video, witnesses came forward to explain that Ms. Belcourt had been using an altered copy of the video to blackmail an innocent woman. For her safety, the police have yet to release the name of the individual who was being blackmailed. The police have stated that upon inspection of Ms. Belcourt's properties that she had in her possession many of the items that were stolen from the business that burnt down. Along with that they found other items such as clothing, jewelry and purses that were recently reported stolen from a store on 5th Avenue a couple of months ago. Ms. Belcourt is scheduled to appear in court in the morning, though she is being transferred here to City Hall within the hour."

After that I stopped listening. Was it really over? I'm I free? Sadly I did not get to think about this for long. I felt a prick in my neck and then I started to get dizzy and everything was going black. Why am I passing out this time? This was my last thought for now I hope.


	21. Ugh, My Head

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

Ugh my head. How many times am I going to wake up with me head feeling weird? This time I feel groggy and I can't remember anything. I try to move and that is when I realize that I am laying on the floor. A concrete floor, how in the hell did I end up on the floor. This is when the fear kicks in and I remember the news reports and the prick in my neck. I open my eyes in a flash and look around. I am in some type of basement with nothing but concrete walls around me. The room has very little light for its size and I can barely make out what is actually around me, but I know that it's not very big. There is one door with no handle, but it has a large slot that has its own door I think and the walls are plain grey, while the floor is definitely concrete and it is slightly moist. Gross, this is a crappy place to be in.

Then it hits me, you have got to be kidding me. Did I somehow manage to get kidnapped? Who would want to kidnap me, I mean Camille is in jail and my friends would never do this. I try to sit up when I feel dizzy again. So maybe that is not the best option. I am still weak from the coma, so moving around is not the best plan right now. I lay back down all the way. I need to build my strength up first. I opt for looking around some more to see where the light is coming from. There just so happens to be a small exposed light bulb hanging from some wires in the ceiling. Okay so at least I have light. However, there is nothing else in the room as far as I can tell. There may be a camera somewhere I can't see but I don't think so. It would have to be in a corner or something.

How long have I been out this time? I swear if I wake up and it is 8 weeks later again I will probably kill someone. I have already lost enough of my life to one coma; don't need another one taking some more time from me. Okay time to stay calm. I need to keep calm. Who the hell am I trying to kid? I am Clary Frickin' Fray, I don't do calm. I do pissed as shit when stuff like this happens. I need to work out who is holding me and why. Once I get this information then maybe I can come up with a plan to get out.

After what seems like hours I finally have enough strength to sit up. This gives me a better view of the room. Time to make a list of everything in here, there has to be something that I can use as a weapon or escape tool. I run my hands over the walls and they feel like very rough sand paper. The concrete looks old, like this is some type of bunker. I worked a crime scene once in a bunker, the old guy died in it after getting locked in by his psycho wife. That place stunk, but at least there is no dead people smell in here, which has to be a good sign.

While thinking this, there is a sound behind the door and the slide door for the slot opens. "You awake in there?" a man says through the slot. Damn I know that voice. "Yeah Seb just fine. So you decided on becoming a kidnapper instead of a stuck up sales clerk." I spat back at him. I know I should not be acting like this, but hey he kidnapped me. I get to be snarky and mean if I want to. "Sorry Clary, but the boss wanted you on ice. Actually the boss wanted you dead, but I thought this was a better plan. You get to rot in a cell just like she had to for the last 6 weeks."

Boss? Six weeks, okay well if it who I think it is, then I haven't been out for long. "So Camille sends her love from prison does she?" I ask. "Nope our guys managed to break her out when they were transferring her to City Hall for her first court appearance. She would be here now, but she needed some patchin' up since the cops shot her in the leg before we got out of there." Seb tells me. Yeah too bad it was not her head that got shot I thought. "Well, tell her I miss her and if she wants to see me she can get her ugly ass down here." Snarky comments are something I learned from Jace. He is better at them than me, but I learned how to do them somewhat.

"I wouldn't be so snarky if I were you. I mean, Camille has a bad temper and I don't know if I can convince her not to kill you again." He says with a light laugh. "Seb, you know I'm dead either way. Jon managed to get the code and he most likely went to our step-father with the information he had. I knew this was always a possible outcome for me. I was literally waiting until Camille got tired of her game." This was one of the reasons for all of my legal paperwork giving my mom custody of Ana should anything happen to me. A tear slips from my eye as I think about my little girl. I probably won't get to see her grow up or anything. Damn Camille I really hope someone kills her.

"I don't think so Clary. I think she wants you to see your beautiful little girl grow up now. But, she is only going to show you pictures. I think she is going to keep you alive for a very long time. By the time she is done you'll be begging for death." With that Seb shuts the slide door and I am alone again. He can't be serious. She wants to show me pictures of her growing up while I am stuck in here. No way in hell that is going to happen. I will get stronger and I will find a way out.

Sometime later the slot was opened again, but no one spoke. Instead a small bag was dropped through. Great what now, a bag full of spiders? I decide to try and stand up to see what is in the bag. I manage to get up and I use the wall for support as I walk over to the door. I manage to get down onto the floor so I can see what is in the bag. Once I open it I find a small bottle of water, some chips and a sandwich. Well at least I am not going to starve to death. I decide it is better to eat something than to refuse. I will need all of my strength, both mentally and physically if I am going to figure out how to get out of here.

My days pass slowly. I don't see or talk to anyone. I do however, take the time to walk around my cell. My legs are getting stronger, but I get tired easily. My only human interaction is when food or clothing is dropped through the slot on the door. Some of the water I drink, while some of it I use to wipe the sweat from my body. It gets really hot in here during the days and I sweat so much. Luckily, the bottles of water are getting bigger so that is something. I think at least one of my meals a day has some type of sedative in it, because one day I woke up with a mattress and all the wrappers and bottles were gone. This kept happening, I would fall into a deep sleep and then the garbage would be removed. The problem is they never drug the same meal each time, so I have no way of knowing which one will knock me out for a few extra hours.

My meal times also help me gauge the days. I get feed three times a day. It's usually the same thing, but I think one of my guards is starting to feel sorry for me. After a day or two, I noticed that at least one meal always has a cookie and it was the same meal, dinner time. Maybe if I can just get him or her to talk to me I could get some type of help with my plan. Oh, I have a plan, but I am missing a few items.

By counting my meals it has been over a week since I was brought here. I want answers from Camille. I decided that the next time someone came to deliver food I was going to scream for Camille. If that bitch wants me locked away then I want to at least see her. She owes me answers. If I am never getting out, then I want to know why she has done this to me. When I finally get my chance I scream as loud as I can at the person. "Get me the bitch known as Camille Belcourt and you can even tell her I called her a pain in my ass home wrecking tramp." I say with a smug smile. I hear a laugh and then my food comes through the door. "As you wish." Seb of course it would be him this time.

I finish my food while I wait for Camille. I know she will come this time. If someone called me those names I would be out for blood. Also, Camille hates it when people disrespect her. That's when I hear the door opening and in walks Camille with Seb and one other guy. They both have guns trained right at me. "You wanted to see me?" she asks.


	22. Truth

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

"I said you wanted to see me Clarissa." Camille said once again. I guess I was shocked that she even showed up. I mean a part of me knew why she did, but I still thought she would make me wait longer. "Yeah, I want answers. I am stuck here because of some twisted vendetta and I want to know why. It is the least you owe me, since I will never be with my family again." I say while letting a few tears slip down my face. I know the tears will help my cause, because the more pain I am in, the more Camille enjoys herself. This is why I am digging my nails into my arm behind my back. I am actually too mad to cry so I have to force myself.

"You know I was never going to tell you, but you are right. I should at least make the past clear for you. Sit down and I will tell you my story." she began. I sat down on my mattress and then watched her pace. I also saw that her or my guards, whichever way you want to see it, never dropped their guns. They just stared at me.

"You see Clarissa I was not much different from you. I loved a boy as a teenager and he was my world. The problem was he got into business with some bad men. Your father found some evidence on my Raphael, that was his name by the way, and your father was going to use it to bring him down. I could not let that happen. When Raphael found out he was going to be busted he asked me to speak to your father. I was scared at first because I had just found out I was pregnant and I didn't know how to help Raphael. But I decided that I needed to do something, so I went to your father and begged him not to send Raphael away. Your father said that if I could convince Raphael to give him one or two names he could get the sentenced reduced to 6 months."

Camille stops pacing and looks right at me. "I trusted your father. He said Raphael would be safe, even in prison. He told me about his precious little Clarissa and how he wanted her to grow up strong like me. I came from a good family and he said that getting pregnant at a young age was not a horrible thing. Life happens, but we move forward. So, I talked to Raphael and convinced him. I was there in court when Raphael got his sentence. It broke my heart, but I knew he would be out right before our baby was born. Your father came up to me that day and said he hopes his little Clarissa could be a brave as me one day."

This is when she starts to pace again. "One month before Raphael was supposed to get out of prison he was killed by another inmate. Turns out little birdies don't last long in prison. I grieved, gave birth to my son and I told myself I could stay strong. A few years later, my son died in a car accident, he was only three. I had to grieve again, but this time I was truly alone. If I had just told Raphael to run away with me, our child would be alive and I would still have the love of my life. I would not have had to grieve and bury both of them." This is when her voice got darker and deeper.

"I looked up your father after my son passed, because I wanted revenge. Sadly for you, he was killed in the line of duty about four months after Raphael died. Then I remembered he told me about his precious Clarissa. So I waited and watched for the right moments to come about. I worked my way through a criminal organization and took over. This gave me the money and resources I needed to make you, his precious Clarissa suffer just like me. You had to say goodbye to the love of your life and raise a child on your own. Now I am making you grieve for them by keeping you away. You will never see them again. At least I am not as cruel as you think I am, I am not going to kill them." With that she walks out of the room.

After Camille left, I laid down on my mattress and cried. I stayed like that for hours. The only thought going through my head is that she is absolutely crazy. My dad was a good cop and I am sure he thought he could keep Raphael safe. It was not his fault that all of this happened, but now I wish he had never talked about me. I don't blame him though, he was always proud of both of his kids and he liked people in the neighborhood to know us.

I decided to think just about him. I remember asking him why Jon had the last name Morgenstern and I had the last name Fray. He said that he made a deal with my mom that if she had a little girl then she could give her the last name Fray. Plus, he said it showed respect to my mother, because she chose to keep her last name when she married my dad. She was the last Fray alive and she didn't want the name to end. He was a good dad I repeated to myself over and over again.

A few hours later my food arrived. My dinner and cookie are in the bag, but there is also something else, a piece of paper and a small pencil. I open the paper to see a note which read:

Clary,

I have been waiting for you to get stronger before I could give you this. You are not the only one Camille has ever blackmailed. Sadly I cannot let you out of the cell, but if you need small things to help you escape please write what you need on this paper and put it back in the bag. I will retrieve it the next time I come in to clear away the trash. There is no camera in your room, but there is one right outside the door. Whatever I bring you needs to be small enough to fit into this bag and it cannot be bulky. I wish I could do more, but that bitch is watching my every move. I am risking a lot by helping you, but I know you cannot stay in there forever. I don't know how long it will take me to get what you need, so it may be some time before you can free yourself. I know you are smart and determined you can do this. I wish I could let your family know you are safe but I can't risk it. If Camille thinks for a second that I am helping you, then she will kill us both. I am so sorry. I wish I could do more.

Seb

So Sebastian is not a crazy henchman, he is a victim like me. At least he is willing to help; maybe he is not such as asshole after all. I think about what I need and try to figure out how many items I can get away with asking for. It is time to start this plan and get me the hell out of here. I write down what I need and leave everything in the bag like I normally do.

It has been two weeks and I just received the items I need to break out. Seb told me not to eat my dinner and that I would have three hours before the next guard would show up. I had to make everything in advance so that after my dinner was served I could break out of here. He also wrote in his note that once I am out the door I will find myself in a hallway. I need to go down the hallway until I reach the stairs. Once at the stairs I go up and out the door, which will not be locked. It is never locked he says. Then I will be in a field. If I go north for a mile I will find an old truck with keys under the seat. There would be a phone in there as well and I needed to wait until I got into the city to use it. He said to call Luke first so I know the cop that was going to meet me when I get back into town. Apparently she has cops on the payroll. He then wished me well and said he would not be back. He was running and would never see New York again unless Camille was dead. She had proven that even the cops can't hold her. I was truly on my own from this point on.

Items I had Seb get me: a lighter, rusty nails, a soda can, a metal file, a can of play dough and a sparkler. Thank God I know a lot of science stuff. My plan is to make thermite, which is a combustible material that will burn hot enough to melt the metal latch on the outside of the door. Seb placed a small mark on the inside of my door where the latch on the outside is, just as I had asked him to do. Now making termite is time consuming, I need the file to create shavings from the can and to remove the rust from the nails. Then I need to mix them together in the right amounts and place it all throughout the play dough. Once it is mixed I can place it on the door, insert the sparkler and light it. The sparkler will give me the ignition I need and the time I need to back away. Thermite does not explode but it is highly dangerous.

I finish making my creation right as my dinner comes through the slot of my door. I open it up and see a note from Seb. Do not eat! it says. Good luck and good bye. This is my moment to shine. The camera outside will capture my escape, but since no one is close enough I should have enough time to get away. I decide to count to one hundred to calm my nerves and then place the thermite on the door. Please work I say as I insert the sparkler, light it and then back away. I watch the sparkler burns and then it happens the heat hits the play dough and then I see it reacting with the metal. Holy Shit! It is working, please oh please is all I can think. Once the flame dies down I walk over and kick the door. It pops open. Yes! Freedom here I come. I take no time in running out the door, through the hallway and up the stairs. Yes! The door is unlocked. I look up at the stars to figure out which way is north and then I start running. Just like he said, there was a truck. I jump in it and find the keys. Who needs a night in shinning armor when you can be your own savior, okay with some help, but it was my idea.

I start the truck and I am out of there. I get right into the city limits when I turn on the phone and call Luke. "Detective Garroway." he says. "Hey don't react to what I say, you need to stay calm and get to me now. I am driving an old truck into the city and I need to see only you."

"Tell me where." is all he says. "The first place we really connected." I say before ending the call. I know he will understand. I just can't risk staying on the phone longer. I don't know if someone is listening to his phone calls. I continue to drive towards the Brooklyn Bridge so I can meet up with him.


	23. Coming Home

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

I make it to the entrance of the Brooklyn Bridge. I remember running all the way here after finding out my mom and Luke were getting married all those years ago. I was heartbroken, because that meant my dad was really gone and not coming back. I was eight years old. Not the smarts or safest thing for a kid to do. I remember that Luke followed me all the way here and instead of him being mad at me, he pulled me into his arms and cried. He said he missed my dad too and if it meant that he would have to give up my mom, he would do it in a second if that meant I could have my dad back. That was the first time we really connected on a deeper level. Even at eight years old I knew he would always be there for me.

I'm sitting in the truck waiting for him to show up. I only have to wait a few minutes before I see him walk over to the entrance of the bridge. Without a single thought I jump out of the truck and scream "Daddy!" I start running towards him, he starts running towards me. We collide somewhere in the middle. "Oh my god, Clare-bear what happened to you?" he asked as he hugged me. "Kidnapped, what else. You know that I have a need for drama." I say as I pull away. I try to smile but fail.

"You and your sarcastic comments. You so get that trait from your father." He just stares at me then. I can't help it but I start to cry, which then turns into heartbreaking sobs. "Hey it is okay, your safe and we will keep it that way. Was it Camille that had you taken?" he asks me. All I can do is shake my head yes.

After I calm down some, he walks me over to his car. "How is my baby, Jace, mom, Jon and the rest?" I need to know that they are all okay. "They are fine. They are scared, worried and tired mostly. We have spent so much time looking for you. You have been gone for over three weeks. Jace moved Ana to his place. The house has the best security money can buy. I can take you there if you want or do you need to go to the hospital?" I blink and then think no more hospitals. "I don't have the best luck at hospitals. I just want to see my family. Can you call everyone and tell them to meet us at Jace's place. I just need to be around non crazy people right now, but don't tell them why, just that it's important." So I don't forget to tell him I add "Just so you know Camille has several cops on the payroll. That's how she was able to get free. Not all of the ones there that night were in on it, but several were." Luke shakes his head and then he starts making the phone calls to get everyone over to Jace's house.

Twenty minutes later we are pulling up to Jace's house. OMG he lives in a mini mansion. I could definitely live here, well as long as I don't have to clean it. I can also let my aversion to rich people slide just this once I think. Luke shows his badge and ID to the guard at the gate before he lets us in. "You ready?" he says asks. "Yeah, I was ready three weeks ago." I say with a laugh. I get out of the car and let him lead me towards the front door. "Hold on Luke." Luke stops and looks at me. "Will you warn them all to sit down first? I want to make sure no one falls down or faints. I don't need anyone going to the hospital tonight."

Luke laughs, "Yeah just stay out of their sight until I give you the all clear. Don't you dare go out of my sight though." he adds. Luke then walks up to the door and knocks, while I stand over to the side just out of sight. Izzy comes to the door and Luke talks to her for a moment. Izzy goes back in and leaves the door open. "I told her it is good news but everyone needs to be sitting down." I nod. "Let's do this." I tell him before we walk in. Luke leads me to the living room, which happens to be past the parlor and the library. Damn this place is nice and big.

As he walks over to the living room door, I make sure to stay off to the side. He walks just inside the door before he starts. "Okay, guys everyone here?" I hear him say. "Yeah Luke we are all here, what is going on? Izzy said you had good news. So do you have a led on where Clary is?" I hear Jace say. "Yeah I do." Before he can get to the next part I can hear everyone yelling questions at him. Damn over dramatic fools. I said I wanted to be around non crazy people, but what can I say, they are my family.

I realize that they are going to keep talking unless something happens. So I pull a Clary as my mom would call it. "Oh will you all shut up so the man can talk." I shout before walking into the room. Next thing I hear is the most beautiful sound in all the world. "MOMMA!" Ana yells as she jumps off of Jace's lap and runs into my arms. "Oh, my baby. How I have missed you." I say with tears going down my face. There is nothing more healing than having your child in your arms after being gone for so long.

Jace is the next one to walk over to me. He kisses me and as he pulls away he says "I looked for you. I have been so lost and completely out of my element here. How did you manage to get away?" I think for a minute and then say "Sometimes a girl just needs to save herself. I couldn't wait around to be rescued." I smile at him. "Besides I had some help, it turns out I am not the only person Camille has ever blackmailed into doing her biding." I can see the confusion in his face. "Why don't we sit down and I can tell everyone the story. This way I only have to tell it once." With that Jace walks me over to the couch to sit down and I start my interesting yet exhausting story.

"Well that's everything on my side. Now how about we discuss other matters, such as code breaking, video leakage, restricted access to information while being stuck in the hospital, or Jace finding out he is Ana's dad." I say looking around the room. I had a lot of time to think while I was being held. I figured out that Jace knew he was Ana's father and that they had come up with a plan to fix my mess.

The room goes silent. Jace is the first one to talk "It was never our intention to keep you out of the loop. I had planned to tell you everything when the code was broken."

"So why not tell me when I was in the hospital? I mean Camille had already been caught." I say. "Clary honey," my mom starts "we were worried about putting too much stress on you. We wanted you to give you the time you needed to heal properly." This is all too much for me right now. I know they wanted to protect me, but right now I wanted to focus on something new and happy. "Fine I'll take that answer for now, but only if I get my way on one thing." I say looking at Jace. "Anything you want." he answers. "Great." I look over at Magnus. "How long will it take you to throw together a wedding?" I ask him. "A wedding?" he asks me. "Yep, unless I am no longer engaged. I know getting kidnapped may make it seem like I am high maintenance, but I promise to not let it happen again." I say with a smile to Jace. Everyone laughs at this.

"I could have it ready in three days if you want to have it here." Magnus says.

"Perfect." Jace and I say at the same time. "This way we know it is secure and I finally get to marry this woman." Jace adds. "Hell yeah, it is about time we get to make this wedding happen." Izzy says. "I mean, most of the plans are actually made already, we just need to get everything." she adds. Now I am the one confused. "Come again?" I ask. Izzy now blushes and so does Jace. I don't think I have ever seen him blush. "Izzy and I planned the wedding on the airplane when we were coming back to the states." he says. "You were that sure you could when me back Herondale?" I ask. "No, but I needed to be prepared in case I was able to." With that statement he kisses me.


	24. Dada!

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

The next morning I wake up to Ana bouncing on my bed, but this time instead of hollering for me, she is yelling "Daddy, get up!" Oh how things have changed. I turn over to see Jace struggling to wake up. "Ana I told you that you were abnormal right?" I ask her and she just looks at me. "Well this six am alarm you have is all his fault?" I say while pointing at Jace. This gets both Ana and I laughing. "How is this my fault?" Jace asks finally opening his eyes. "Because she gets this trait from Your Father, thus making it your fault." I say with determination as I get out of bed.

"So why don't we all get up and make some breakfast?" I ask them as I pull my robe around me. Jace slides out of bed and smiles at me before saying "I like the idea of having our first family breakfast together, but you really need to give some insight into our kid." This has me confused for a second. "What are you talking about?" He smiles at me and says "How in the world can she really be mine if she likes ducks? I mean they are evil little creatures." he adds.

Now Ana and I are laughing so hard. "This is not a laughing matter. You taught our daughter to like ducks." he shivers when he says the last word. "Jace, she is yours, she just didn't inherit the ridiculous fear of ducks that other Herondales have." We all start laughing as we head downstairs to make breakfast.

After Ana eats her breakfast she runs off to go play in her room. Jace and I take this momentary time of quiet to talk in the living room. "Jace can I ask you something?" I say trying to start a serious conversation. "Yeah, what's on your mind?" he asks. "Are you mad at me for hiding the fact that Ana is your daughter from you?" I am worried about a lot of things. I don't want him to be really mad. I just didn't see a way out back then.

"No, I am just upset that I missed out on seven years of her life." he tells me. "Well if there was a way for me to make it better would you let me try?" I say to him. "How?" is all he says back. "Let's get Ana and go over to my place. I know you brought most of my stuff here, but I also know you missed one area."

"Okay, but the guards are coming with us. There is no way in hell either of you are going out without them until Camille is stopped."

"No argument here. I spent too much time being held by that bitch. I have no desire to repeat that experience." With that we go upstairs, get dressed and then head out to my old place.

When we arrive at my old house, I tell Ana that she needs to look for anything she wants to take right now. Since Jace and I are getting married, I decided to put this place up for sale and live with him. I am planning on donating most of the furniture, except the couch, it's really comfy and I told Jace it needed a place in his house. He laughed at that comment, which got him a slap on the shoulder. As we walk through the house I lead him to my old studio. It is empty now, because Jace already moved all of my art supplies to his house.

"What are we doing in here? I cleared everything out already." Jace says. I smile and walk over to the far wall. "I had Jon make this for me, so that I could stash my most precious items here." I say as a push on one of the panels. With that the panel pops open and a small room appears. "You see this room is actually a tiny bit bigger. Jon put up a false wall with a hidden door. It is a make shift panic room slash storage area. Unless you know it's here, you can never find it." With that I open the door the rest of the way. "Now don't let the contents scare you. I am a mini stalker of sorts, but I had my reasons." I add with a laugh.

"Okay, who were you stalking?" he questions me. "Our daughter." I say as I walk into the small space. "You see all of these boxes; they are filled with videos of our daughter. The ones with the blue labels are the baby ones, the green labels are the toddler years, pre-k is purple and the school years are red." To say I only kind of stalked my kid with a video camera throughout her life is actually an understatement. I had always hoped that Jace would one day be able to know Ana was his and I wanted him to be able to see her grow up. I wanted more than just pictures on the wall to show him.

The look on his face says it all. You can see the amazement and love written all over his face. "You stalked our kid with a camera for 7 years?" he says. "Yeah, I had planned to do it all of her life, though I had not figured out how to do it when she became a teenager. You know how teenagers like to sneak away sometimes. I just wanted something to show you if I ever got the chance to tell you that you are her father."

"Clary there has to be at least a thousand DVDs here." Jace says as he looks through the different boxes. I walk over to one of the blue labeled boxes and pull out a DVD I know Jace will love then I say "Well you know how determined I get. I could not let a single moment go by. However, this video is my favorite one." I say holding out the DVD. The label reads Daddy. He gives me a confused look. "Trust me, when you see it you will understand." With that he takes the video into the living room and puts it into my DVD player before turning on the TV.

When the video starts playing you can see a very small Ana, about 9 to 10 months old. She is holding a photo and says Dada. You see the camera get shaky for a moment and then you hear me behind it say. 'Little-bit, what did you say?' baby Ana then shakes the picture and says Dada again. You can hear me crying quietly behind the camera. Baby Ana hands me the picture and I show it to the camera. It is a picture of Jace that was taken his senior year.

Jace pauses the video and just looks at me. "That was her first word, even before no." I tell him. "Your right this is my favorite video. But how did she know I was her daddy?"

"I have no clue. She just said it after finding the picture on the floor. It must have fallen out of something when I was moving things into this place." He kisses me then and says "These are definitely coming home now. I have a lot of videos to watch. Maybe we can just make it a movie night and see how many we can get through." I just smile as we get up. Jace retrieves the DVD from the player before we head back to the room to start gathering the rest of the boxes.


	25. A New Beginning

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

When Magnus said three days, he meant three days. Today I am getting married. I am currently standing in one of the guest bedrooms getting ready for my big moment. Jace and I decided to spend the night alone, but I was not to leave the house. Luckily, this place has several bedrooms so I just moved into one of them for the night. I am nervous and excited all at the same time. Not to mention frustrated. Jace seems almost scared to touch me at night, so we have not been together 'together' since I have been back if you catch my meaning. Tonight that will change, it will be my wedding night and when we go to bed I am going to have my way with him. A smile comes over my face as I think about all the ways I am going to mess with him until tonight. By the time everyone leaves, he will begging to worship me.

I still have the smile on my face when Magnus walks into the room with my dress. "It is so good to see you happy and safe biscuit." he tells me. "It is good to be anywhere except that bunker." I say. You can see a shadow pass over his face for a second. "No, don't Maggie. I am here and safe, that's all that matters today."

"Your right. Now let's get you into this dress. I made this years ago, so it might be a little out of fashion, but it will look great on you. I only had to make a few minor adjustments since your body changed a little since having Ana." he tells me as he pulls the dress out for me to see. "Years ago?" I ask. "Yep, a few months before you graduated. You see that ring on your finger?" he asks. I nod. "Jace bought that half way through your senior year. He was going to propose at your graduation. He had everything planned out." I stand there in complete shock. "Then Camille ruined everything. I wonder why he did not get rid of the ring. Hell, why did you keep the dress?" I ask.

"I guess we both knew this day may still come around." Magnus says before he starts to help me get it on.

An hour later I am fully dressed and just waiting for the ceremony to begin. Magnus did a wonderful job making me look beautiful, but not over the top flashy. I then hear a knock at the door. "Come in!" I holler. When the door opens I see Celine standing there is a lovely blue dress. "Clary can I have a minute?" I look over at Magnus who gives me a kiss on the cheek and walks out of the room.

"What can I do for you Celine?" I ask. I have not seen her much since I have been back. "I wanted to give you something." she tells me as she hands me a small bag. Inside is a handkerchief with embroidered flowers. "This is lovely Celine, thank you." I say. "It is your something old. I carried it on my wedding day. We all have something for you, but I wanted to give you this in private. You see Clary, I wanted to talk to you and let you know I was never mad at you. I was in awe of your strength and love for my son."

I must have looked as confused as I feel, because she laughs. "Let me explain" she starts "when you started acting weird I knew something was up. I decided to confront you, so I went to your house. I guess someone left the door slightly open, so I went right in. That was when I heard you talking to Jon about what Camille was doing to you. I was in awe of how determined you were to save them, even if that meant breaking your own heart in the process. That is one of the reasons I spend as much time with Ana as I do. I never told you I knew because Camille sounded really dangerous and you promised to keep it all a secret. It broke my heart not being able to tell Jace, but I know my son. He would have tried to take on Camille, but he would have messed it up back then. This time around, he is smarter and he had more resources to fight back. Well that is all I wanted to say." she finishes as she looks at me.

A moment passes before Celine walks over to the door and lets Izzy, Magnus and my mom into the room. Izzy gives me my something new, which is an emerald necklace. My mom hands me my something borrowed, which is the silver bracelet my father gave her when I was born. Magnus was in charge of the something blue, which of course is a navy blue garter that goes under my dress. We all laugh and share a small quiet moment before I head downstairs.

At the bottom of the stairs, my brother waits to walk me down the aisle. He kisses my forehead and tells me how proud he is of me. As everyone else makes their way towards the backyard, where the wedding is being held, I prepare myself for the song to start. Jace and I did not want the traditional wedding march; we wanted something that represented us. That's when it happens. A Thousand Years starts playing as Jon leads me out and to Jace.

I come into view of Jace and the guests when they can hear the line 'I knew that I'd found a home for my heart'. I slowly walk up the aisle with my brother beside me, smiling the whole time. Jace also have the brightest smile I have ever seen on his face. I look to my side of the altar and see Ana standing there. She was so happy when I told her she was going to my maid of honor. It just seemed right, though Izzy is helping her out by holding onto Jace's ring for me. When I finally reach Jace, he sticks his hand out to shake Jon's hand. Jon lets go of me and pulls Jace in for a hug and I can hear him say "Protect her and love her or I will come for you." I smile at my brother before he kisses my cheek and walks to his seat.

Simon is conducting the wedding, because we wanted the fewest amount of people we did not know at the wedding. Simon was thrilled. He got ordained on the internet just for this occasion. "Everyone please be seated." Simon says once the music stops. As Simon starts talking all I can do is stare into Jace's eyes. I can't believe we have finally made it to this point. "Jace and Clary have decided to write their own vows, so I will leave the next part to them." Simon says.

Jace starts "My dearest Clary, how do I express my undying love to you. Usually I am so good with words, but around you, nothing seems good enough. You have done this to me for years. I still remember the first time I realized that I loved you. We were sitting in some school assembly and some random guy was trying to get your attention. I remember wanting to do bodily harm to that guy. The feeling was strange, since I had always seen you as just a friend. I told Alec about it that day, and he clued me in on a fact everyone but you and I seemed to know. I was and had been in love with you since the day we meet. We have been through some hard times, but we have also gone through some great ones. You are my best friend, lover and the mother of my child. I promise from this day forward to love you and honor you until my dying breath."

I can feel the tears starting and I can see his eyes are tearing up as well. I take a deep breath before I start my vows. "Jace, you were always it for me. The day I met you, you changed my 6 years old mind on boys. Before you boys were annoying monsters like my brother." I laugh as I smile over at Jon. "However, you showed me that boys could be loving, kind and just as stubborn as me. You helped me see myself as a beautiful girl, instead of an awkward person with frizzy hair, bad balance and the ability to get into all kinds of trouble. When we were apart I swore never to love again. I could not take the pain that comes with losing someone you love. But more importantly, I could never get over my love for you. I offer you a promise that I will never break, I promise to love you and honor you until my very last breath."

Simon then continued on with the wedding and I finally got to hear these words after so many years of waiting. "I know pronounce you husband and wife, you may now kiss each other." And kiss each other we did.


	26. The Reception

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

We decided to put up a very large tent in the backyard for the reception since it is the most secure option. As we walk into the tent all of our guests cheer. I still can't believe we made it this far. Jace kisses me and then walks over to the microphone. "Thank you everyone for coming. This has been many years coming and even though we have had our challenges, we came out stronger in the end. With that said, Clary told me I could pick the wedding song, so I decided to go with one that shows us that even if you take the wrong path once, you can still find the right road to lead you home." Jace says before placing down the microphone and walking back to me. He leads me to the middle of the dance floor just as Bless the broken road by Rascal Flatts starts to play.

"Country huh, never would have guesses that." I say. "Well, you know me. I am always full of surprises." Jace says as we start slow dancing to the music. It feels so good to be in his arms. I never thought I would get the chance to dance with him again, let alone marry him. As the song continues I can't help but think about the lyrics. Sometimes we did take the wrong roads, but they did eventually lead me back to him.

After our song, it was my turn at the microphone. "Hey everybody I just want to thank you myself for you guys coming to day." I start before saying "As you know my father passed away right before I turned eight. But I got the greatest gift shortly after that. Luke came into my life. He married my mom and I got to have a dad again. So if my dad will make his way out to the dance floor, I think it is time for our father daughter dance." I put the microphone down and walk out to the dance floor. Luke had no idea I was planning this, but it seemed right so I went with it.

He walks over to me and kisses my cheek. The song Daddy dance with me by Krystal Keith starts to play. Luke pulls me into his arms and we sway to the music. "I love you Clare-bear." he whispers in my ear as the song ends. "Love you too Daddy." I say.

As promised I spent the rest of the reception messing with Jace. Every chance I got I was running my fingers across his chest, over his arms and grabbing his thighs while we sat and listened to all the speeches given by our family and friends. By the time people started leaving, I could tell Jace wanted to scream at them to hurry up. Finally as the last guests leave, I take him by the hand and lead him upstairs. Tonight is the first night where I never have to leave his arms again.

 **Authors Note: This is just a small chapter for the feels. No the next chapter does not pick up where we left off. It will be a few weeks later. Sadly this means you have to use your imagination for what happened that night. I know I am cruel, but hey nothing really beats your own imagination. *Insert evil laugh here***


	27. Showdown

**Authors Note: I want to thank each person who has taken the time to read this story to this point, it really means a lot to me. Sadly, even the best stories need to come to an end. So I hope you have enjoyed the ride, but this is the end of the line for Broken Promises. What is so funny is that this story was only meant to be around 30,000 words, guess it goes to show how much I have enjoyed writing this story.**

 **Additionally, my new story Hide, Love and Hope will be starting in a few days. If you want a basic idea of what that story will be, please feel free to PM me. Happy reading.**

All Characters belong to Cassie, just the plot belongs to me

It's been just over a month since the wedding. I decided to take time off from work and use the disability pay the police department offered me. I have been spending my days painting and getting ready for Ana to go back to school. Everything has been relatively calm, though no one has seen or heard from Camille since I got free. I try not to worry, especially since Jace has guards around 24/7 now. Ana and I cannot go anywhere without at least 3 guards. Ana will even have a few guards that walk around her school while she is there.

I keep trying to convince myself that everything will be fine. I mean, Camille is now facing federal crimes since the kidnapping. When and not if she is caught, she will go into federal custody and I don't think she has any FBI agents on the payroll. Luke was able to find out which cops were on her payroll though. Each of them is looking at decades of prison time after their trials.

Right now Jace is at work and Ana is at the park with my mother and her guards. I am now pacing around my new art studio waiting for an email. There is a different thought that has been nagging at me for a day or so, but I am waiting on the email to tell me if I am right or not. I just have to focus on the future, whatever that may hold. Ding! I hear from my phone. Finally, I have been waiting all day for this email. I open it only to discover it is not the one I have been waiting for. The email is from Camille. My breath catches and my heart drops.

I open the email to see it has a picture attachment. I almost drop the phone when I see a picture of Ana at the park. The caption reads: come alone and my guys will not kill everyone here. You have one hour.

Damn this bitch. I am so done with her. I type my response back as a plan forms in my head. 'Fine but I choose the location. No one else but you shows up and no weapons. We will settle this today.'

I send her the location and I make my way downstairs. I look out the window to see my guards. I need to get around them. I think back to my teenage years. I always had to get past my mom, Luke and Jon to go out in my less than appropriate clothing. If I time this just right I can get past the guards, over the fence and be gone before anyone knows I'm not here. With that thought, I sneak out the backdoor. I time it so that the guards are walking in a different direction and then I make a run for it. I get lucky and I don't trip or fall while trying to leave.

My next step is to hit a store or two. I will use the cash in my pocket, so that if anyone is tracking my cards they will not know that I left the house or what I am buying. I don't know how much Camille is watching me or how, so I have to be smart about this.

After I get all of my supplies I return to my old house. It is basically empty, except for a few things in the kitchen. So this bitch thinks she is going to hurt me again, nope not happening I think. I am going to Home Alone her ass. She will regret that she ever picked on Clary Fray. I set up my items and wait at the edge of the hall for her to show up.

Right at the one hour mark the front door opens and Camille walks in. "You know I didn't actually think you would show up alone." she says to me. "I didn't think you were stupid enough to come after me again." I say with a high level of venom in my voice. She snarls at me before she reaches behind her and takes out a gun. Now this I was expecting. I knew she would bring a weapon which is why I am standing at the edge of the hall. It does not give her a clear line of sight to shot me. "Not so smug are you now Clarissa. I was having you watched. I know you don't have a weapon on you." she says.

"Well if you want to shot me than you have to catch me first!" I yell as I run down the hall. "Oh this is just stupid. There is no back door to this place that way and the only windows have been painted over sealing them shut from the outside. I could see that as I walked up here." Camille is yelling at me as she follows me further into the house.

Good thing I know this house better than her. I run into my old art studio, while making sure not to knock the door open any further. I push the panel on the hidden room and get in. I precede to text Luke a come and help me the fuck out message, while also telling him where I am at. That's when I hear the most blood curdling scream. I guess she figured out which room I walked into.

I push on the latch on the panel so I can peek out. If she is not totally down then I need to be able to shut the door again. Instead what I see though is pretty sick. I feel a little guilty about what I did, but not really. Lying on the floor is Camille passed out cold from what I think is pain. Oh man, it looks like she looked up to see what was about to hit her when she pushed the door fully open. Damn that had to hurt. I run over and grab the gun from her hand and take out all of the bullets.

On the floor next to her is an upside down bucket that had held a large amount of lye and lemon juice mixed together. Good thing this town has plenty of soap making stores. I was able to find everything I needed at one place. When I walked out of the store it looked like I was just carrying a bucket. The lemon juice I had here.

From what I can see it looks like Camille got the mixture in her eyes, oh and her mouth. No wonder she passed out. Lemon juice on its own hurts pretty bad, but once you mix lye into it; yeah the combination is horrible if it gets on your skin, let alone in your eyes and mouth. I decide to take pity on her so I call an ambulance and tell them what they need to bring to help stop Camille's skin from burning completely off. Though I am pretty sure she will be blind after this. It was not the nicest thing to do to her, but it was in self defense. I mean, she did come here with a gun. I only made improvised acid incase she did not want to talk nicely. That is my story and I am sticking to it.

A little while later the ambulance and Luke show up. While the paramedics treat Camille and bring her to the hospital I tell Luke everything that happened. I explained that if I tried to call or text anyone Ana and my mom would have been killed. He was not happy, but he was proud of me. He asked me how I knew to mix the lye and lemon juice together. I showed him a small scar from a chemical burn on my arm. I explained about how I did it in my high school chemistry lab on accident.

"Where is she? I'm going to kill her for this." I hear Jace say from somewhere in the house. Oh hell, he is not talking about Camille, she is already gone. "In here Jace!" Luke yells. As Jace is coming towards us my phone beeps and I see an email alert. I read it and then look up at Jace. "What do you have to say for yourself Clary?" he asks. "I'm pregnant." I say. Right on cue Jace faints. Well this is an interesting twist to our story, I think.

Fin


	28. Sequel

I have started a sequel to this story since so many people asked for one. I will be updating as the story comes to me. Hope you like it


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